BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Anders Nilsson was pleased to record his second career shutout. He was even happier to help the Buffalo Sabres end their losing skid.

Nilsson made 33 saves to lead the Sabres to a 3-0 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon. It was his second career shutout.

The victory ended a four-game losing streak for Buffalo.

"Of course, that's always nice, but I think the most important thing is the two points we got," Nilsson said. "That's huge for us and it means a lot for our confidence and that's something to build on, and hopefully we can continue to play the way we did."

Nilsson's only other shutout came on March 4, 2012, as a member of the New York Islanders.

The Sabres' backup goalie has been pressed into action after starting goaltender Robin Lehner came down with an illness earlier in the week. Nilsson played admirably in each of his three starts but was unable to come away with a victory until Saturday.

"He's been working really hard," Sabres center Zemgus Girgensons said. "There's been a couple bad breaks but he's been nothing but good for us. He's been good in practice, he's been working and today he just prepared for it."

Johan Larsson, Kyle Okposo and Sam Reinhart scored for Buffalo (2-3-2), which responded after a particularly poor showing in a 4-0 loss to Minnesota on Thursday. It was Buffalo's first win of the season at home.

"The game had a lot of good in it when we needed to be good," Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma said. "We jump out early, get a goal early on in the game. Our penalty kill was good. We got tested a few times at critical times in the game. Our power play wasn't the prettiest 2 for 4 on the power play, but it was two big goals from our power play. And you get a huge performance from Nilsson in net."

Larsson opened the scoring 7:29 into the first period on a snipe from the right circle. Larsson buried a hard wrist shot after receiving a nifty backhand pass from Sabres captain Brian Gionta as Gionta fell to the ground beside the end boards.

Okposo made it 2-0 on a rebound opportunity 5:57 into the second period. After a shot from Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen went off Luongo's glove and hit the post, Okposo tucked in the rebound with a backhand shot to give Buffalo a two-goal lead.

Buffalo increased its advantage to 3-0 following a lucky break on the power play 8:48 into the third period. Reinhart's pass from behind the net caromed off Florida defenseman Mark Pysyk's skate and went into the net for his first goal of the season.

Roberto Luongo made 22 saves for Florida (3-4-1), which struggled to get much of anything going offensively.

"I don't think we played a strong game tonight," Florida head coach Gerard Gallant said. "I just think the way we played the game tonight, we didn't work hard enough and didn't compete. It's the first game I'm really disappointed. I thought we played well all season long. Tonight we didn't play well enough, we weren't even close to winning that hockey game."

The Panthers will look to get something out of their four-game road trip on Sunday against Detroit. Florida has yet to win a game on the trip, falling to Buffalo, Toronto and Pittsburgh.

"To end a road trip, you've got to salvage some points here," Florida defenseman Keith Yandle said. "We've got to be ready against a good team in Detroit. We've just got to get back and focus on our game."

It was Florida's first regulation loss in Buffalo since March 25, 2011. The Panthers had a record of 8-0-2 in Buffalo in the past 10 meetings heading into the game.

NOTES: RW Evander Kane (cracked ribs) and D Casey Nelson were scratched for the Sabres. D Michael Matheson, LW Jussi Jokinen and C Kyle Rau were scratched for the Panthers. ... This was the first of four meetings between the two teams this season. Their next meeting is in Florida on Dec. 20. ... Buffalo G Robin Lehner returned in a backup capacity to Anders Nilsson. Lehner is expected to return to his starting role on Sunday against Winnipeg after missing three games due to an illness. ... NHL linesman Tim Nowak participated in his 1500th game and was honored before the game by the league. He was presented with an autographed stick from both teams.