SUNRISE, Fla. — Darth Vader should have brought goalie pads. The Florida Panthers could have used him.

Of course, his lightsaber might have been useless against the Buffalo Sabres. The force

was strong with them.

The Sabres exposed the dark side of the Panthers on Wednesday night, scoring five times in

the first period to storm to a 5-2 victory in BankAtlantic Center. The early barrage was the

highest one-period output for Buffalo since it scored six times against Tampa Bay on March 19,

2008.

This one had a surreal feel from the get-go. Vader, the legendary "Star Wars" movie

character, conducted the ceremonial puck drop to promote an upcoming concert in South Florida.

Mere seconds after he was off the ice, Florida starting goaltender Scott Clemmensen followed

him.

The Sabres scored two goals on their opening three shots, sending Clemmensen to the bench

after just 1:56.

"That's the fastest I've ever been pulled," the 32-year-old netminder said.

Tomas Vokoun fared no better. The Sabres beat him three times on 13 shots before the first

period came to a close.

"We wanted to not sit back and watch what the other team was going to come out with. We

wanted to dictate," said Sabres captain Craig Rivet, who took the faceoff from Vader and posed

for a picture. "That was awesome. My kids are going to love that. That was pretty exciting."

The few fans who did show up for the Panthers, who announced a crowd of 12,067, were

shell-shocked as soon as they reached their seats. Mike Grier one-timed Jochen Hecht's

cross-ice pass through Clemmensen's pads with 1:11 gone. Just 45 seconds later, Jason

Pominville's one-timer on the power play reached the net long before Clemmensen slid across

the crease to try and stop it.

Panthers coach Peter DeBoer had seen enough and summoned Vokoun from the end of the bench.

That's nothing new for opponents of the Sabres. Buffalo has forced teams to turn to their

backups in three of the past four games. The Sabres previously chased the starters for the

Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders.

The Sabres have scored 19 goals in the past four games after scoring just four goals in the

opening three outings. They have reached double-digit shot totals in 15 of their 21 periods

this season.

The Sabres' onslaught continued the moment Vokoun entered. They held a 10-1 shot advantage

when Matt Ellis popped in a rebound with only 4:37 run off the clock. The opening period,

which included goals by Tyler Myers and Thomas Vanek, made up for the Sabres' previous outing.

They gave up 12 of the first 13 shots in Saturday's 4-2 loss to Atlanta.

"I was very impressed with the start," Sabres goalie Ryan Miller said. "Everyone in the

room recognized that our last home start wasn't what we wanted. We wanted to definitely prove

that we could come back and bring our game together and not lose two in a row. That's going to

be important through the course of the season, to jump right back when things don't go our

way."

Though his teammates staked him to a huge lead, Miller hardly had the night off. The Panthers

actually finished the first period with a 17-16 advantage in shots and concluded the game with

43. The Sabres fired36 at the Panthers' goalie tandem.

"When we're breaking down a little bit, he's always there to cover up for us," Sabres

defenseman Henrik Tallinder said of Miller.

The winning outing gave the Sabres a chance to enjoy the sunshine today. They don't play

again until Saturday when they visit Tampa, and the practice session scheduled for today in

the Fort Lauderdale area has beencanceled.

It proves a team can get a day off when they refuse to take one.

"When you're down in Florida, you don't want to get that tendency where you're on vacation,"

Miller said. "I think we came down here and did it right."