Vanecek shuts out Sabres in Panthers debut as Florida wins fifth straight

The good times continue to roll for the Florida Panthers.

Florida wrapped up their five-game homestand on Saturday night with a fifth straight win, taking down the Buffalo Sabres by a 4-0 final score.

On this night, it was Florida’s new-look fourth line that got things started for the Cats.

With the puck on his stick at the blue line, Dmitry Kulikov drew in a couple of Sabres defenders before sliding a pass to a wide-open Nate Schmidt.

He walked in and fired a pair of shots on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, the second of which trickled through the young Finnish goaltender.

A.J. Greer was waiting for a rebound and quickly deposited the puck into the empty net at the 7:20 mark of the opening period.

A long shot by Carter Verhaeghe flew over the shoulder of a screened Luukkonen to double Florida’s advantage midway through the second period.

Florida made it 3-0 late in the second on a play not that dissimilar from their first goal, with Anton Lundell jumping on a Schmidt shot rebound and poking it over the goal line.

Sam Bennett added an empty net goal to make it 4-0 in the final moments.

That would be more than enough goal support for Vitek Vanecek.

He made 21 saves in his Panthers debut while earning the tenth shutout of his NHL career.

QUICK THOUGHTS

Vanecek is the third goalie to earn a shutout in his Panthers debut, joining Chris Driedger and Jose Theodore.

Greer matched a career high with his sixth goal of the season.

Barkov has six points over a three-game point streak after assisting on Verhaeghe’s goal.

Speaking of point streaks, Aaron Ekblad is up to six straight games, racking up seven points, all assists, during the run.

Kulikov’s assist on Greer’s goal was his first point since Jan. 29, a span of 11 games.

Schmidt now has four points over his past five games after logging his first multi-point effort since joining the Panthers.

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