Ice Breaker: Buffalo burns the Panthers, Ullmark stays perfect
Reinhart's power-play double wasn't enough in Buffalo, Ottawa's goalie moved to 5-0, and Quinn Hughes kept his streak alive in Minnesota.
Three games on a Monday, and the loudest number in all of them came off Florida's stick: two power-play goals. Then the Panthers took five penalties, gave up two of their own on the kill, and lost 5-3 in Buffalo. Linus Ullmark, meanwhile, is still waiting for someone to beat him in October.
Last night
Sabres 5, Panthers 3
Sam Reinhart scored twice on the power play, both in the second period, to drag Florida back to 3-3 after Buffalo led 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2. Jacob Markstrom came out after the first period with two goals against on 11 shots, and Akira Schmid stopped 18 of 21 the rest of the way.
Aaron Ekblad's holding-the-stick call early in the third turned into Noah Ostlund's go-ahead power-play goal a minute later, and Tage Thompson made it 5-3 at 13:20. Pabs has the full recap.
Pabs: The power play finally showed a pulse and the kill gave it right back. Matthew Tkachuk has a point in five straight by our count, and that's about the only streak I like right now.
Lind's read: Gustav Forsling logged 24.2 minutes, up 5.9 from the previous game per NHL data, the biggest swing on the roster. With Barkov and Marchand out, Maurice is leaning on his best defenseman to cover for what's missing up front.
Sully's chirp: Florida took five penalties and Buffalo cashed two of them, against a power play operating at 13.6 percent on the season. Buddy, I'm begging you, they were already struggling to find the door; you don't have to hold it open for them.
Shane Pinto scored nine seconds into the second period, Stephen Halliday added a power-play goal, and Tim Stützle and Tyler Kleven (empty net) closed it. New Jersey outshot Ottawa 30-20 and got one past Ullmark, from Arseny Gritsyuk with five minutes left. Ottawa has won three straight.
Lind's read: Ullmark is 5-0 with a .948 save percentage and a 1.27 goals-against average through five starts, per NHL data. Small sample, but it's why a team getting outshot by 10 can still go home with two points.
Wild 4, Golden Knights 2
Minnesota scored three times in 5:07 of the first period, from Matt Boldy, Maxim Shabanov on the power play and Danila Yurov. Rasmus Andersson and William Karlsson got Vegas within one, and Joel Eriksson Ek finished it into an empty net. Jesper Wallstedt stopped 21 of 23.
By our count, Quinn Hughes has a point in all six Wild games (nine points), after two more assists last night.
Sully's chirp: Jack Eichel played 21:24, had two shots and finished minus-1. That's not a stat line, that's a shift at the Registry with a lunch break.
Three stars of the night
- Linus Ullmark, OTT — 29 saves on 30 shots. Still unbeaten.
- Sam Reinhart, FLA — two power-play goals in a loss, after Florida's power play went 0 for 15 across the previous three games.
- Tim Stützle, OTT — a goal and an assist, including the one that put it away.
Lind's number of the night
3 for 32. That's Florida's power play this season by our count, and two of the three goals came in Buffalo. One productive night doesn't repair a 9.4 percent conversion rate, but it's the first evidence since Oct. 1 that the personnel can still generate legitimate looks without Barkov distributing.
Sully's take of the morning
Four goalies played in Buffalo. Two starters got the hook before the game was half over. The best save percentage in the building belonged to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who came in cold and stopped 13 of 14, which is a little like the backup quarterback winning the game by handing it off.
Grade for the goaltending in that barn: D, and that's with the curve. Somebody in a mask owes the room a better Tuesday, and they're all playing again tonight.
Tonight
Sixteen games, and all six of last night's teams go right back out on a back-to-back. The Panthers are in Columbus at 6:15 p.m. ET on Scripps Sports, chasing the end of a two-game skid.
Tampa visits the Rangers at 7:15, Colorado is at Dallas at 8:30 on ESPN, and the Bruins close the night in San Jose at 11 on ESPN. The one to watch for a reason: the 0-5-2 Flyers host Seattle at 7 on Prime Video, still looking for win number one.
