The Sabres snuff the Panthers

Last year's co-champions knock the 5th-place Panthers dark

A shared crown returns

The Buffalo Sabres shared the Gauntlet in 2023-24, yet last season's league table had them 22nd of 32. The Florida Panthers finished 5th. On qualification night none of that protected anyone: lose, and your candle was gone before the shelf had settled.

This was a virtual match. Each team played its own game that night against a club from the West, and whichever scored more went through.

Florida's flame flickers

In Sunrise, the Minnesota Wild struck twice in 22 seconds of the 1st. Marco Rossi tipped one in at 11:40 and Marcus Johansson slapped one home at 12:02. Matt Boldy added a power-play tip-in early in the 2nd. Sam Bennett answered with a deflected goal at 11:19, and it was the only one Florida got. Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek then scored on snap shots, Sergei Bobrovsky gave way to Spencer Knight, and Filip Gustavsson made 24 saves.

Buffalo bats it in

In Buffalo, Peyton Krebs batted the puck out of the air at 12:21 of the 2nd against the Dallas Stars. Ryan McLeod's wrister came 1:23 later, giving the Sabres two goals to Florida's one. Tage Thompson slapped in a third at 4:17 of the 3rd, and Owen Power assisted on all three. Dallas pulled its goalie, and Thomas Harley and Tyler Seguin both scored with the extra attacker. Alex Tuch then hit the empty net at 19:49. The Panthers' candle went cold. Thirty still burn.