By JOHN WAWROW (AP Hockey Writer)

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Anthony Stolarz stopped 45 shots for his seventh career shutout and the Florida Panthers became the 11th NHL team to win 10 consecutive road games, beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 on Thursday night and taking over the top spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring midway through the first period and added an empty-netter. Anton Lundell scored by tipping in Matthew Tkachuk’s point shot on a delayed penalty with 2:44 left in the second period. Ryan Lomberg followed Verhaeghe’s empty-netter with a goal with 11 seconds remaining.

Florida’s win streak is tied for the sixth-longest among NHL teams in a season, and two short of matching the record held by Detroit (2005-06) and Minnesota (2014-15).

Further, in the Panthers’ past 18 road games, they have won 11 of them by at least three goals.

Combined with the Boston Bruins’ 4-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night, the Panthers took over the No. 1 position in the Eastern Conference for the first time this season, currently owning a tiebreak advantage over the Bruins, with both teams at 74 points (a 112-point pace). They trail only the 78-point Vancouver Canucks in the NHL standings.

“We didn’t look anywhere near what we normally look like tonight. And I’m not complaining about the effort. That’s what they had to give,” Maurice said. “We just weren’t sharp or fast. But our goalie was good. And a lot of nights, that’s all that matters.”

The Panthers won on consecutive nights, following a 5-2 victory at Pittsburgh, and their road streak is the league’s second-longest this season after Los Angeles’ 11-game run from Oct. 17 to Dec. 7.

Florida improved its road record to 19-7-2, and hasn’t lost away from home since dropping a 3-1 decision at Calgary on Dec. 18. Florida’s actually been hot both home and away, going 17-3-2 in its past 22 overall.

Buffalo reverted to its inconsistencies by dropping to 9-8 in its past 17, and failing to build off a 7-0 victory over the Kings on Tuesday night. Eric Comrie stopped 27 shots in losing his sixth consecutive start and dropping to 1-6 this season.

Comrie got his first start in more than two months after the team announced a few hours before faceoff that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was listed as day to day because of a lower-body injury.

Stolarz was sharp in posting his first shutout of the season, and the second of his career against Buffalo. His best stops came in kicking out his left pad to twice stop Kyle Okposo’s attempt to jam in a rebound during a power play five minutes into the third period.

“You look at the back-to-back, you want to go out there and you want to put on a strong performance. I take a lot of pride in that,” Stolarz said a day after Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots in a 5-2 victory at Pittsburgh. “The guys were working hard for me and I try to do that in return for them.”

The Sabres also failed to finish.

Rookie Zach Benson was set up to the right of the net and missed the open side by shooting wide 7:30 into the first period. Casey Mittelstadt was set up at the left of the net and was unable to lift the puck over Stolarz’s outstretched pads. And Dylan Cozens missed scoring into an open right side by deflecting the puck back into Stolarz, who then fell on the puck.

The Sabres failed to win consecutive home games for just the second time this season.

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov set up the opening goal by forcing Sabres rookie defenseman Ryan Johnson to cough up the puck in the right corner. Barkov then fed Verhaeghe, who was left alone in front.

Lundell’s goal came seconds after a delayed penalty was called against Buffalo’s Tage Thompson.

UP NEXT

Panthers: At Tampa Bay on Saturday night.