Joe Yerdon – NHL.com Correspondent
BUFFALO — Reilly Smith and Jussi Jokinen each had three points to lead the Florida Panthers to a 7-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center on Tuesday.
The Panthers took a 3-0 lead after the first period on goals by Smith, defenseman Brian Campbell, and Jokinen.
Smith’s 17th goal of the season came 7:40 into the period when he received a pass from Jokinen and took a slap shot that beat Sabres starting goalie Robin Lehner over the glove and went in off the crossbar.
Smith added an empty-net goal with 1:57 left in the third period to complete the scoring.
The Panthers (32-16-6) ended a two-game losing streak. The Sabres (21-27-6) have lost three straight.
Campbell made it 2-0 with his fifth goal of the season, a wrist shot that deflected off Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen’s stick and went past Lehner at 10:45. Jokinen’s 11th goal of the season with 24.6 seconds left made it 3-0.
Defenseman Alex Petrovic gave Florida a four-goal lead 22 seconds into the second period when his shot from the near boards outside the right circle beat Lehner for his second goal of the season. Lehner was replaced by Chad Johnson following the goal. Lehner made eight saves; Johnson finished with 15.
Sabres rookie Sam Reinhart scored power-play goals 3:55 apart in the second period that cut the Panthers lead to 4-2.
Reinhart extended his goal streak to three games 1:09 into the period when he put the rebound of Rasmus Ristolainen’s pass off the end boards past Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo. Reinhart’s 16th goal of the season came when he redirected a pass by Ryan O’Reilly off his skate past Luongo. O’Reilly extended his assist streak to four games.
Luongo played in his 906th NHL game, tying him with Glenn Hall for sixth all-time in games played by goalies.
The Panthers regained their four-goal lead when Brandon Pirri scored his 11th of the season at 7:39 and Jaromir Jagr got his 17th of the season, and 739th of his career at 17:53.
The Sabres got third-period goals by Evander Kane, 13th goal, and defenseman Mike Weber, his first, to make it 6-4 before Smith’s empty-netter.
Sabres forward Johan Larsson missed the game with an undisclosed injury he sustained Tuesday morning. Defenseman Jake McCabe replaced him in the lineup.
Panthers forward Garrett Wilson was recalled on Tuesday. He replaced center Aleksander Barkov, who sustained a lower-body injury in Florida’s 3-0 loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.
Florida is off until it hosts the St. Louis Blues on Friday. The Sabres play at the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
