Panthers 3, Sabres 2
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Veteran right winger Jaromir Jagr scored two first-period goals, and goalie Roberto Luongo continued an impressive recent trend, leading the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night at the BB&T Center.
Both Jagr, who added an assist in the third period, and Luongo reached career milestones.
Luongo earned win No. 403, tying Grant Fuhr for ninth place on the NHL list. Luongo is 7-0 with four shutouts in the past two years against the Sabres.
Jagr's first goal came on a power play. It was his 205th power-play goal, tying Joe Sakic for 13th in NHL history. Jagr passed Wayne Gretzky on the list.
Overall, Jagr has 726 goals, five away from tying Marcel Dionne for fourth place.
Florida (3-0-1) has allowed a total of five goals.
The Panthers opened the scoring with 11:08 left in the first period. Florida had a five-on-three power play -- a tripping call on defenseman Mike Weber was followed 24 seconds later by a hooking penalty on defenseman Josh Gorges -- and Jagr cashed in.
Panthers center Aleksander Barkov slid a short pass from the left of the crease to the right, where Jagr was waiting.
The first period was interrupted for about 15 minutes when a piece of glass on the back boards broke.
Shortly after play resumed, Jagr scored with a high wrist shot, beating goalie Chad Johnson to the glove side. The goal came with 2:26 left in the first period.
Because of the equipment delay, there was no break between the first and second periods.
The Sabres (1-3-0) closed their deficit to 2-1 with 12:50 left in the second period. Defenseman Jake McCabe, skating down the left wing, took a perfect feed from left winger Marcus Foligno and pushed the puck past Luongo.
Florida made it 3-1 with 15:36 left in the third period, getting a power-play goal. After Johnson blocked a Jagr shot, Barkov pounced on the rebound, making Buffalo pay for defenseman Mark Pysyk's high-sticking penalty.
Buffalo scored with 7:25 remaining in the third, closing the deficit to 3-2. The Sabres took advantage of a delay-of-game penalty on Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad, getting a power-play goal from center Tyler Ennis. His slap shot got past Luongo, who was screened on the play.
NOTES: The Sabres' team captain, RW Brian Gionta, made his season debut. He had been out due to a lower-body injury. ... Sabres C Jack Eichel played his first game in Sunrise, but it wasn't his first professional moment at the BB&T Center. In June, Eichel was in this arena when he was the second player selected in the 2015 NHL Draft. ... Sabres starting G Robin Lehner (ankle injury) is out at least six weeks. ... Sabres F Zach Bogosian (lower body) has yet to play this season. ... Panthers LW Jonathan Huberdeau played his 200th game. ... Florida scratched D Steven Kampfer, D Dylan Olsen and LW Shawn Thornton. Buffalo scratched C David Legwand and D Carlo Colaiacovo.