Rasmus Dahlin Hurt as Sabres Beat Panthers 5-3

Rasmus Dahlin gave Buffalo the lead, then the afternoon got scary. The Sabres captain scored a power-play goal in the first period and left early in the second with an upper-body injury, but Buffalo still beat the Florida Panthers 5-3 at KeyBank Center on Monday, per NHL.com.

Coach Lindy Ruff called it day to day, but Dahlin did not travel with the team for the start of a three-game road trip that opens Tuesday in Montreal. "They (can) treat him better here. He doesn't have to get on an airplane right now. Obviously, that probably rules him out for tomorrow," Ruff said.

How Dahlin went down

Dahlin made it 2-1 at 15:55 of the first with a one-timer from above the slot on the power play that beat Jacob Markstrom high to the blocker side. Then at 3:29 of the second, after taking a slap shot from the edge of the right face-off circle, he headed for the locker room and did not return, per NHL.com.

Losing your captain and top defenseman with a road back-to-back starting the next night is the kind of thing that can sink a week. Buffalo came into this one on a two-game skid.

Ostlund and Thompson close it

The Sabres did not fold. Josh Doan opened the scoring at 5:58 of the first for his first goal of the season, Anton Lundell tied it, and Dahlin put Buffalo back on top. Sam Reinhart answered with a power-play goal early in the second, and that ended Colten Ellis' day after two goals on nine shots. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen came on and made 13 saves.

Ryan McLeod deked Akira Schmid for a 3-2 lead. Reinhart scored his second power-play goal of the game off a between-the-legs backhand feed from Brady Tkachuk to tie it 3-3. Then Noah Ostlund took over, burying a Zach Benson feed in front on the power play at 7:15 of the third for the 4-3 lead. Tage Thompson finished it from the slot off an Owen Power pass at 13:20.

"I thought it was our best start," Ruff said, adding that in the six games so far, "that was probably our best hockey game."

Thompson had a goal and an assist, while Peyton Krebs, Jack Quinn and Power each had two assists. Power was plus-3 in 26:31 of ice time.

Panthers keep sliding

Florida is 2-2-2 and has lost four of five. Markstrom was pulled after allowing two goals on 11 shots in the first. "He just tightened up, and so we pulled him," coach Paul Maurice said, adding that the team does not believe it is anything it cannot deal with. Tkachuk's assist was his first point in six games with Florida since the June trade from Ottawa.

Buffalo is back to 3-3-0, but the standings line matters less than the next update on its captain. If Dahlin really is day to day, this was the game the Sabres proved they can win without him for 40 minutes. If it is longer, Montreal on Tuesday is the first test of how long they can keep doing it.