Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves for the Panthers (3-4-0), who have lost four straight after opening the season with three straight wins.
“This league is so hard, so challenging for every team,” Bobrovsky said. “Every organization, they have good players. The challenge is so high. I didn’t expect we’re going to win all 82 games. You’re going to face some challenges. You just have to weather them, stay composed, stay together and keep doing our thing, keep playing with our structure.”
Doan gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead on the power play at 7:13 of the first period. Tage Thompson’s shot from the right wall went off Doan’s leg in front and beat Bobrovsky blocker side.
It was Doan’s first goal with the Sabres after he was acquired with defenseman Michael Kesselring in a trade with the Utah Mammoth for forward JJ Peterka on June 26.
“Great guy on the puck, getting around the puck, getting to the net,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said of Doan. “Really, I think we’ve just seen a glimpse of his game.”
Doan made it 2-0 when he redirected Jason Zucker’s pass by Bobrovsky’s right skate at 11:12 of the second period on the power play.
“I think chaos is a strength of my game when the puck is bouncing around and the forechecker around the net,” Doan said. “That’s where I take pride in my game. And we’ve got a good, good couple of games going where [Zach Benson] is back, and he’s doing the same thing, creating chaos like that. So it’s been a lot of fun, and I enjoy doing that.”
Power jumped up to join the rush and took a feed from Alex Tuch down low that he chipped over Bobrovsky’s right pad to push it to 3-0 at 14:20.
