A mere 1 minute and 56 seconds into the game, the Sabres had a 2-0 lead and Clemmensen had himself an early exit.
Mike Grier got things started as he broke in on an odd-man rush and beat Clemmensen 5 hole for his 2nd of the season, just 1 minute 11 seconds into the game.
Jason Pominville sealed Clemmer's fate with a powerplay goal a mere 45 seconds later.
Clemmensen's line: 3 shots faced, 1 save, .333 save percentage.
Enter Tomas Vokoun who started off just as shaky as Clemmensen, surrendering a goal to Matt Ellis for his first, the team's 3rd, and the game wasn't even 5 minutes old at this point.
Buffalo would add another from Tyler Myers, his second, before Florida would respond with their first.
Steve Reinprecht would get Florida's only first period marker, but just over 2 minutes later, on a great never-give-up type of play, Thomas Vanek crashed the net hard while the puck was still loose and registered his 4th.
Buffalo held a 5-1 edge at the end of the first period, and they never looked back.
Stealing a line from the on-line soccer game hattrick.org, "at this point with a safe lead, the Sabres decided to focus on their defensive aspects of the game."
While the Panthers held a decisive edge in the shots on goal department, the Sabres' lead never looked in doubt.
Going back to Myers really quick, he looked quite impressive, including his shot from the point which narrowly missed Derek Roy's stick and deflected off of Vokoun's catching glove and into the net. He certainly rebounded from a shaky performance against the Thrashers on Saturday night.
Sabres 5 - Panthers 2
Running Tally of Sabres Chasers
1.) Chris Osgood - 10/13
2.) Dwayne Roloson - 10/16
3.) Scott Clemmensen - 10/21
5-1-1, 11 points
Next up: Saturday night @ Tampa Bay, 730.
