Craig Anderson stops 51 shots as Sabres down Panthers

Craig Anderson made 51 saves to help the Buffalo Sabres post a 3-1 win against the Florida Panthers on Friday in Sunrise, Fla.

Jeff Skinner scored twice, Alex Tuch added a goal and Tage Thompson had three assists for the Sabres, who moved into the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Carter Verhaeghe scored and Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves for the Panthers, who have not won consecutive games since winning three straight from Jan. 28-Feb. 9.

Skinner gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 3:51 of the second period off a give-and-go with Thompson. Skinner, at the right wall, fed Thompson streaking up the middle, and Thompson continued toward the net before sending a backhand pass over to Skinner at the bottom the right circle.

Henri Jokiharju appeared to double the advantage 6 1/2 minutes into the period, but the Panthers challenged for offside, and the goal was overturned after video review showed Tuch had preceded the puck into the zone.

Tuch would get it back a few minutes later on the power play. Owen Power took a pass from Thompson at the blue line and quickly sent it up to Tuch in the inner side of the left circle, where Tuch wired it by Bobrovsky to make it 2-0 at 8:44.

Anderson kept the home side at bay late in the period, denying Sam Reinhart on a one-timer from the slot on the power play with six minutes left and delivering a two-pad stack save on Ryan Lomberg with just under three minutes to go.

The Panthers pushed early in the third period and finally broke through at 8:24 when Verhaeghe wristed a shot from the right faceoff dot to cut it to 2-1.

Skinner put the visitors ahead 3-1 at 10:36, beating Bobrovsky short side up high with a sharp-angle shot from the bottom of the left circle.

Florida outshot Buffalo 25-12 in the final frame.

Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons played in his 600th NHL game.