Published May 02, 2016
Roberto Luongo made 30 saves for his 68th career shutout to lead the Florida Panthers past the Buffalo Sabres 2-0 on Friday night.
Brad Boyes and Nick Bjugstad scored for Florida, which won for the first time in three games.
Luongo has shutouts in his last three starts in Buffalo, and this one moved him into sole possession of 13th on the NHL's career list.
Michal Neuvirth made 31 saves for Buffalo, which has lost three in a row.
Florida started the scoring at the 3:29 mark when Sabres defenseman Tyson Strachan missed the puck on a clearing attempt and the Panthers worked the puck to Boyes, who scored alone in front of the net.
With Mike Weber in the box for an interference penalty, Bjugstad made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 11:51.
Luongo made a left pad save on Tyler Ennis' shot midway through the second to keep Florida's two-goal lead.
Patrick Kaleta intercepted a bad clearing attempt in the Florida slot moments later only for Luongo to push the puck out of play.
Buffalo's best chances of an otherwise stagnant third period came with about 6 minutes to play as Luongo used his blocker to stop Zemgus Girgensons' backhand shot.
Mikhail Grigorenko redirected two point shots at Luongo, but the Panthers netminder turned aside both.
Sabres coach Ted Nolan pulled Neuvirth with just under three minutes to play, and Luongo was quickly tested by Girgensons and Chris Stewart.
Luongo also has shut out the Sabres in four of his last five starts, all wins.
Weber's penalty was the only infraction called in the game until Dave Bolland was called for tripping with 38 seconds to play.
NOTES: With Rasmus Ristolainen back in the lineup, Sabres D Mark Pysyk was sent back to Rochester of the AHL. ... Panthers LW Tomas Fleischmann missed the game after suffering an undisclosed injury in the morning skate.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/roberto-luongo-has-30-saves-as-panthers-shut-out-sabres-2-0