BUFFALO, N.Y. — The second period hasn't been kind to the Buffalo Sabres against the Florida Panthers at home this season.
In their last two second periods at KeyBank Center, the Panthers outscored the Sabres 7-0 and outshot them 42-15.
A two-goal third period wasn't enough for the Sabres to overcome the second, ending their eight-game point streak with a 5-3 loss.
Buffalo carried a 1-0 lead off of Kyle Okposo's 18th goal of the season, assisted by Mattias Samuelsson and Cody Eakin, into the second period. But Florida outshot the Sabres 22-8 in the second and tallied three goals from Jonathan Huberdeau, Anton Lundell, and Anthony Duclair against Dustin Tokarski, taking a 3-1 lead into the second.
Duclair scored again 57 seconds into the third period to give Florida a 4-1 lead.
Midway through the third, on the power play, Jeff Skinner scored on a goal, originally waived off. The call was overturned, and Skinner's 28th goal of the season pulled the Sabres within 4-2 with 11 minutes, 35 seconds left in the game.
Buffalo immediately drew another power play and Tage Thompson scored his team-high 31st goal of the season, and it was a 4-3 game with 9:41 to go.
The Sabres practiced briefly on Saturday after honoring legendary play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret for his 51-year career on "RJ Night" on Friday, in a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators.
The Panthers were coming off of a Saturday comeback in New Jersey, winning 7-6 in overtime after trailing the Devils, 6-2 after two periods.
The Sabres host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.