Sabres 4, Panthers 2
Drew Stafford netted his second goal of the night just 13 seconds after defenseman Jordan Leopold tallied midway into the third period as the Buffalo Sabres skated to a 4-2 home triumph over the Florida Panthers on Friday.
Jason Pominville both scored a goal and set up another and rookie Tyler Ennis notched a pair of assists for eighth-place Buffalo (37-28-9), which remained three points ahead of Carolina (35-29-10). The Hurricanes kept pace with a 4-3 triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night.
With the game tied at 1-1, Stafford wired a shot past Tomas Vokoun just 2:33 into the second period for his first goal in seven games.
Leopold netted a power-play goal at 9:43 of the third period and Stafford added his team-leading 28th tally of the season just 13 seconds later to give Ryan Miller some breathing room.
The reigning Vezina Trophy winner, Miller turned aside 22 shots to improve to 11-7-0 in 18 career appearances against the Panthers.
Sergei Samsonov scored 4:01 into the first period to snap a scoring drought of over 135 minutes for Florida (29-36-10). Evgeny Dadonov also tallied for the Panthers, but they dropped their fourth in a row and 24th in 32 games.
Florida also saw talented forward David Booth leave the game late in the first period after he was hit in the jaw by a dump-in by Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers. Booth did not return to the contest.