Buffalo Sabres Embarrassed At Home By The Florida Panthers

No team in the National Hockey League does it better than the Buffalo Sabres; lose games at home.  Tuesday night's sorry 7-4 loss to the Florida Panthers at First Niagara Center was decided in the first period when the Panthers built a 3-0 lead and extended it to 4-0 in the first minute of the second period.

For whatever reason the Sabres just didn't show up to play against the top team in the Eastern Conference.  When you consider the Sabres were coming off that infuriating loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night and the Panthers had played the night before you'd think the Sabres would have some motivation.  But the way the Sabres played it was reminiscent of last year's tank season.

Sam Reinhart scored a pair of power play goals to lead the Sabres effort at a comeback.  But every time the Sabres looked like they might be making some progress the Panthers had an answer.  Evander Kane and Mike Weber scored third period goals to close to within 6-4, but an empty net goal with two minutes to play clinched it.

Beyond the Buffalo goals, the fans did get a chance to cheer when Evander Kane and Florida defenseman Alex Petrovic squared off for three fights and Kane clearly won all three.  That was probably the only emotion you saw from the Sabres all night long when they were being embarrassed in front of their own fans.

Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner had a rough night giving up four goals on 12 shots before he was pulled in favor of Chad Johnson.

If you're counting, the Sabres have lost 10 of their last 11 games at home and with 19 losses in 28 home games, that is by far the worst record in the NHL.  The Sabres get a break on Thursday night when they play on the road where they seem to play better.  They travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers.