SUNRISE, Fla. – Marty Reasoner scored twice in the first period to lead the Florida Panthers to a 6-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.
Michael Frolik and Stephen Weiss each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who led 4-0 after the opening period. Bryan McCabe and David Booth had the other Florida goals, while Shawn Matthias, Evgeny Dadonov and Chris Higgins each had two assists.
Tomas Vokoun made 41 saves for Florida.
The Panthers were coming off a 4-3 loss to Carolina after they led 3-0 through the first 20 minutes.
Derek Roy and Tim Connolly scored for Buffalo, which was 4-1-1 in its previous six games.
Sabres goalie Ryan Miller was pulled after the first period after giving up four goals on only 10 shots. Patrick Lalime stopped 14 of 16 shots in the last two periods.
Reasoner's first goal came at 8:23 and gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead. He took a pass from Dadonov behind the net, skated to the right faceoff circle and fired a shot that went in off the skate of Sabres defenseman Steve Montador.
Reasoner made it 3-0 at 14:08 after Jason Garrison's shot from the point was wide of the net and bounced off the boards. Reasoner one-timed the carom past Miller from a sharp angle.
Booth completed the first-period outburst with a power-play goal as the Sabres were being called for another penalty. He took a back pass from Frolik and deked Miller to his forehand.
The four goals matched Florida's season high for any period this season and were the most given up by Buffalo.
The teams traded goals late in the second period and early in the third.
Notes: Buffalo came into the game having given up four or more goals in only 11 of its first 31 games. ... The Panthers improved to 8-0 when scoring four or more. ... Sabres D Shaone Morrisonn missed his fifth consecutive game because of a concussion. ... The Sabres had won their last three games at Florida.
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