BUFFALO – Well, a lot can change in three days, huh? The Sabres, a laughingstock earlier in the week thanks to their dreadful 0-3-0 start, suddenly look like a contender in the crowded Eastern Conference.
To wit: fresh off a four-goal victory, the Sabres showcased a complete and heavy effort throughout Saturday’s emotional 3-0 triumph over the Florida Panthers, setting an aggressive tone all afternoon and also standing up for themselves physically.
Goalie Alex Lyon, the Sabres’ MVP through five games, stopped all 32 shots he faced against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Winger Josh Doan scored two more power-play goals, giving the Sabres five in the last two games. They also killed all seven of the Panthers’ power plays, including three in the first period.
“I’m pleased with almost every aspect of the game – special teams, goaltending, our five-on-five play, our speed we played the game,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.
Captain Rasmus Dahlin said the Sabres demonstrated a blueprint for success.
“This is how we play every night from now on,” he said.
Ruff, of course, also loved the grit and intensity the Sabres displayed in sending the Panthers to their fourth consecutive loss.
Instead of the letting the emotion overwhelm them, he said they fed off it.
“There was a lot of emotion in the game, a lot of passion,” Ruff said. “For me, that’s Sabres hockey right there, passion. I thought there was passion right from the start, killing the penalty right off the start, physicality.”
In the second period, Panthers winger Brad Marchand, the NHL’s foremost pest, responded angrily after Dahlin cross-checked him to the ice in the Florida zone.
A few seconds later, Marchand interfered with Dahlin in the slot, knocking him down. Marchand then pounced on Dahlin and started punching him on the ice. Sabres winger Tage Thompson quickly came to Dahlin’s defense, and a melee erupted.
Marchand earned roughing and interference penalties, putting the Sabres up a man.
Incredibly, when the fracas ended, Marchand took Dahlin’s helmet with him to the penalty box and tore off the chin strap after he sat down.
With his helmet being repaired, Dahlin skated on the power play wearing teammate Peyton Krebs’ bucket.
“Tough helmet. Good teammate,” Dahlin joked. “Appreciate him giving me his helmet so I can play some power play.”
Dahlin gave Marchand a crosscheck in the back, and when Marchand got an opportunity, he gave it right back, threw some punches and then destroyed Dahlin’s helmet #LetsGoBuffalo #TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/ZJnIuB5oBY
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) October 18, 2025
Doan scored again at 11:12, putting the Sabres up 2-0.
When Marchand later left the penalty box and skated to the bench, many fans in the crowd of 16,015 booed him lustily. When he quickly left the bench for a shift, he heard more boos. When he touched the puck, fans booed him again.
Dahlin said Marchand’s antics are “part of the game.”
“Whoever gets the most angry is usually the one that gets the penalty,” he said. “So you got to stay calm in those moments. Usually, he’s really good at that. But I won the little battle today.”
The Sabres know more battles await them, starting Monday in Montreal against the Canadiens. Good teams stack together strong efforts and rattle off wins.
Ruff said if the Sabres, who recently received winger Zach Benson and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson back from injuries, want to keep building, they can’t take for granted “how hard it was to win this game.”
Yes, the Panthers are playing without two superstars, having lost captain Aleksander Barkov (knee) and winger Matthew Tkachuk (torn adductor muscle) to injuries. They’re also missing a couple of other regulars.
Still, they’re perhaps the league’s deepest team.
“That defense is a good defense and that goaltender (Sergei Bobrovsky) is a really good goaltender,” Ruff said. “You saw the number of saves he made (28), the number of off-numbered rushes we had that we didn’t convert on, breakaways we didn’t convert on.
“Five-on-five structure, I thought we were the better team, but their goalie … had his A game.”
So did the Sabres’ netminder. Lyon, who’s subbing for injured starting goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, is making a strong case to keep the No. 1 job when the Finn returns.
So far, Lyon has started all five games. On Saturday, he made some critical stops early as the Sabres killed penalties.
“We’ve put him through through quite a test with the number of games we’ve played him,” Ruff said. “He’s exceeded probably where we thought he’d be. … I thought (the) penalty killers did a good job, but there was some holes that pucks were going through that he had to fight to see.”
Lyon, a career backup who played for the Panthers in 2022-23, said he knew shortly before the season started he would have a considerable workload, so he prepared accordingly.
“So maybe it was easier to mentally prepare for it that way,” he said.
Notes: Ruff said Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson entered concussion protocol after Panthers winger Jonah Gadjovich hit him into the boards in the first period, knocking him out of the game. … Defenseman Owen Power pinched in to score the Sabres’ other goal in the second period. … Samuelsson returned after missing games with an undisclosed injury. … Benson had recorded an assist on Doan’s goal and has five in his two outings this season. … Tough guy Mason Geertsen played for the Sabres after sitting out two games and skated as a fourth-line winger. … The Sabres scratched defenseman Zach Metsa (healthy) and forwards Justin Danforth (lower body) and Josh Dunne (healthy). … Jiri Kulich moved back to center between Benson and Thompson after skating as a winger in Wednesday’s 8-4 win over the Ottawa Senators.
