SUNRISE, Fla. — Jaromir Jagr made his Florida debut and Scottie Upshall scored the go-ahead goal with 5:58 left in the Panthers’ 5-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
Acquired from New Jersey on Thursday for two draft picks, the 43-year-old Jagr had three shots on goal in a little over 17 minutes of ice time to help the Panthers outshoot the Sabres 47-14.
Brandon Pirri scored twice for the Panthers. Nick Bjugstad also scored, and Derek MacKenzie added an empty-net goal with 17 seconds left. Roberto Luongo stopped 11 shots.
Brad Boyes had three assists, and Brian Campbell added two.
The Panthers snapped a four-game losing streak and are 4-0-1 against the Sabres this season. The Sabres lost for the first time in three games.
Torrey Mitchell, Andrej Meszaros and Cody Hodgson scored Buffalo, and Michal Neuvirth made 42 saves.
Mitchell tied it 3 for Buffalo when he poked the puck between Luongo’s pads with 7:06 left in the third. The Panthers answered on Upshall’s slap shot from the right circle.
Bjugstad broke a 2-2 tie with 1:29 left in the second. Bjugstad got the puck in front of the crease and poked it in. He leads the team with 22 goals.
Trailing 2-0, the Panthers tied it at 2 on a Pirri’s power-play goals in a 1:23 span in the second. On the first goal, Brian Campbell passed to Pirri in the slot. His shot went over Neuvirth’s shoulder and into the net at 12:01 that closed the Panthers to 2-1. Pirri’s equalizer came on a one-timer from the right circle that got past Neuvirth.
Pirri played for the first time after missing nine games with an upper-body injury.
The Sabres scored two goals on their first three shots. Hodgson opened the scoring with a shot from the top of the left circle that got past Luongo on the stick side 2:57 in. Meszaros took a soft shot from above the left circle that went five-hole on Luongo at 7:18.
Notes: Sabres F Tyler Ennis missed his second game with a lower-body injury Panthers D Brian Campbell played in his 900th NHL game. … Panthers F Garrett Wilson was reassigned to San Antonio of the AHL. … Earlier Saturday, Florida sent veteran forward Tomas Fleischmann to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Dany Heatley and a third-round pick this year. Fleischmann had seven goals and 14 assists in 52 games with the Panthers this season. Heatley has no points in six games with the Ducks this season.