Flyers Score 6 Unanswered Goals, Down Sabres

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Saturday's trip to Buffalo started a lot like the Flyers first trip to Buffalo in late November. They fell behind early, 2-0, on a pair of early goals.

Buffalo entered the game with a 12-0-3 record when scoring first, but the Flyers handed the Sabres their first regulation loss in that category, scoring six unanswered goals, including four in the third period, to get a 6-2 victory to open a five-game road trip.

After some good chances for both sides early, the Sabres struck first. Jack Eichel got the puck on a rush and fired a perfect shot high over Anthony Stolarz to put the Sabres on the board at 4:04.

Midway through the period, Eichel struck again, deflecting a point shot by Lawrence Pilut into the net for his second goal of the game.

The Flyers trimmed the lead to one just 50 seconds later. On a set play off the face-off, Claude Giroux set up James van Riemsdyk for a quick release and his second goal of the season.

The Flyers were outshot 17-15 in the first period with both goalies coming up big with difficult saves.

In the second, Stolarz held his ground early with a few more tough saves early. Linus Ullmark also did his part, making a couple great saves on a Flyers power play.

Shortly after the power play at the midpoint of the period, the Flyers tied the game. Some great work down low by Michael Raffl helped get the puck to Scott Laughton. Laughton set up Ivan Provorov in the slot for the tying goal.

The Flyers outshot the Sabres, 14-9, to take a 29-26 shots advantage through 40 minutes.

The Flyers started off the third taking an early penalty on a scramble in front of the net. Instead of the Sabres using it to take the lead, the Flyers grabbed the lead thanks to their captain.

Giroux skated up on a shorthanded two-on-one and fired a shot high to the glove side of Ullmark to give the Flyers the lead.

Midway through the period, the Flyers took the one-goal lead and put the game away with three goals in 2:50. First, Wayne Simmonds fired a turnaround shot that hit a Sabre and went in to make it 4-2. Just 1:15 later, Dale Weise finished off a great feed from Raffl to make it a 5-2 game. Then 1:35 later, the Flyers pulled off a terrific passing play with van Riemsdyk feeding Giroux and Giroux putting a slap pass in front to Travis Konecny for another goal, turning it into a 6-2 game.

The Flyers finished things off from there, with Stolarz making 28 games in the win. The Flyers outshot the Sabres, 41-30 in the game.

It's a quick turnaround for the Flyers, who head on the road to Western Canada to face the Winnipeg Jets in the second of a five-game road trip. Game time is 3 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• BUF Jack Eichel (8) (Sam Reinhart, Jeff Skinner) 4:04
• BUF Eichel (9) (Lawrence Pilut, Rasmus Ristolainen) 12:02
• PHI James van Riemsdyk (2) (Claude Giroux) 12:52

2nd Period

• PHI Ivan Provorov (3) (Scott Laughton, Michael Raffl) 10:10

3rd Period

• PHI Giroux (11) SH (Unassisted) 2:49
• PHI Wayne Simmonds (10) (Shayne Gostisbehere, Jake Voracek) 8:10
• PHI Dale Weise (3) (Raffl, Giroux) 9:25
• PHI Travis Konecny (9) (Giroux, van Riemsdyk) 11:00

Game Statistics