Belt game 5,843 · February 1, 1998
Buffalo Sabres take the belt
Buffalo Sabres beat Florida Panthers 5–2 on the road to start reign 2,234 of the NHL belt, the 58th for the franchise.
Florida Panthers had held it since January 27, 1998, with 2 defenses over 5 days.
Buffalo Sabres held it for 33 days and 8 defenses, then lost it to New York Islanders on March 6, 1998.
2,234Reign number
58Team's reign
8Defenses
33Days held
Box score
Florida Panthers
| Player | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | SOG | HIT | SV | SA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Svehla | 0 | 2 | 2 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Kirk Muller | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | — |
| Ray Whitney | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — |
| Radek Dvorak | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — |
| Jeff Norton | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Bill Lindsay | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Dave Gagner | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | — |
| Tom Fitzgerald | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — |
| Dino Ciccarelli | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — |
| Chris Wells | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Viktor Kozlov | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — |
| Ray Sheppard | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Scott Mellanby | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | — | — |
| Terry Carkner | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Paul Laus | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Gord Murphy | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Rhett Warrener | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Ed Jovanovski | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | — | — |
| Todd MacDonald | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| John Vanbiesbrouck | — | — | — | — | 0 | — | — | 24 | 28 |
Buffalo Sabres
| Player | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | SOG | HIT | SV | SA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Peca | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — |
| Alexei Zhitnik | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | — |
| Jason Dawe | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | — |
| Michal Grosek | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Brian Holzinger | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| Derek Plante | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Donald Audette | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — |
| Jason Woolley | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — |
| Darryl Shannon | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | — |
| Richard Smehlik | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Brad May | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | — |
| Vaclav Varada | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | — |
| Rob Ray | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — |
| Matthew Barnaby | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | — | — |
| Curtis Brown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Miroslav Satan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Mike Wilson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| Jay McKee | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | — |
| Steve Shields | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dominik Hasek | — | — | — | — | 0 | — | — | 29 | 31 |
Box scores: the NHL's own game center.