Sabres 5, Panthers 3. Östlund decides it; Dahlin will miss Montreal.

Noah Östlund settled a game Buffalo had not been able to put away. His power-play goal at 7:15 of the third period broke a 3-3 tie, and Tage Thompson added the insurance in the Sabres' 5-3 win over Florida on Monday at KeyBank Center.

The next assignment comes without Rasmus Dahlin. Buffalo's captain left with an upper-body injury after scoring earlier in the game. The Sabres say he is day-to-day and will not play Tuesday in Montreal. That establishes one absence, not a longer recovery timetable.

The lead that finally held

Buffalo carried one-goal leads three times before Florida caught it again. Josh Doan, Dahlin and Ryan McLeod supplied those goals. Östlund's finish, assisted by Zach Benson and Jack Quinn, gave the Sabres their fourth lead. Thompson made it a two-goal margin at 13:20 of the third.

The relief work mattered too. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 13 of 14 shots after replacing Colten Ellis. Buffalo finished with a 32-23 advantage in shots, according to the NHL final record. The last period paired that offensive volume with the lead the Sabres finally protected.

A win, then a missing captain

Buffalo moved to 3-3-0. Two power-play goals helped secure the result, but Dahlin's absence is the immediate complication for the road-trip opener. A win over Florida does not make replacing his minutes a minor detail.

The Sabres list Tuesday's Montreal game for 6:30 p.m. Eastern, with MSG coverage and the pregame show at 6. Check the team update before puck drop for the lineup. No replacement pairing or Dahlin return date has been confirmed in the sources used here.