Travis Konecny, Noah Cates and Bobby Brink each had a goal and an assist to guide the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-2 home victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.
Trevor Zegras and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia, which has won six of its last eight games. The Flyers were playing their first game since losing Tyson Foerster, their leading goal scorer, for 2-3 months with an upper-body injury.
Jason Zucker and Bowen Byram scored for Buffalo, which was trying to win a third straight game for the first time this season. Colten Ellis turned aside 30 shots for the Sabres, while Samuel Ersson made 24 saves for the Flyers.
Zucker opened the scoring at 4:08 of the first period when he rammed home a power-play goal off a nice feed from Josh Doan. However, Philadelphia responded shortly thereafter with three goals in less than a minute, beginning with a pair of power-play tallies.
Konecny started the surge when his shot got past Ellis, who was battling traffic in front of the net. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the goal was upheld, giving Philadelphia another power play.
The Flyers promptly cashed in when Zegras’ pass caromed off an opponent’s skate and into the net.
Shortly after the ensuing faceoff, the Sabres turned it over and Brink deposited a rebound for his seventh of the season.
Philadelphia tacked on two more goals in the second period.
Less than two minutes into the session, Cates scored on a setup from Brink, shortly after a Flyers power play had expired.
Byram got Buffalo within 4-2 midway through the second period, but Tippett answered less than a minute later. His initial shot was stopped by Ellis, but Tippett swatted the rebound out of midair and into the net.
–Field Level Media
