The more rested Lightning had the bulk of the chances early, and they turned a Sabres giveaway into a Nikita Kucherov goal. Ellis was Buffalo’s best player as he made 12 saves in the first period, including five on high-danger chances, per Natural Stat Trick.

The Panthers struck first, but the Sabres pulled back control of the game thanks to a sterling performance from Krebs.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Jason Zucker broke a tie on a power play at 5:31 of the third period and he Buffalo Sabres beat the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers 5-3 on Monday night. The Sabres have won six of seven and took over the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

Josh Doan set up Jason Zucker for the winning power-play goal in the third period. The Sabres had to kill two late penalties – which overlapped for 1:07 of 5-on-3 play in favor of the Panthers – before Krebs finally set up a late Doan goal on the rush with 2:09 left to play. Alex Lyon made a season-high 38 saves for the win.

Late in the Buffalo Sabres’ 4-2 win over Montreal, Zach Benson took an elbow to the face from Canadiens forward Zachary Bolduc. He immediately went down in pain and grabbed at his face. Within a few seconds, the sellout crowd at the Bell Centre started booing Benson. As he got up and skated to the bench, the boos continued to get louder.

Alex Tuch had a goal and an assist, and the Buffalo Sabres held on to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 for their 11th win in 12 games.

Ostlund has been a productive presence in the Sabres ' lineup of late, but most of his contributions have come on even strength, as this was just his second power-play goal of the season. Ostlund has seven points (three goals, four assists) over his last 10 contests.

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Konsta Helenius scored his first NHL goal, assisted on two others, and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Nashville Predators 5-3.