At The Final Horn: Flyers 1 – Sabres 6

For the first time since February 23, the Buffalo Sabres celebrated a victory.

Their 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday at KeyBank Center snapped a franchise-record 18-game winless streak (0-15-3). 

For the second game in a row against the Flyers, Buffalo entered the third period with a three-goal lead, but this time they hung on. 

Sam Reinhart scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season. Steven Fogarty notched the first goal of his NHL career and added an assist. Curtis Lazar and Casey Mittelstadt also tallied. Brandon Montour scored twice on the same penalty kill to ice the game in the third period. 

Montour is just the second defenseman in Sabres history to score two shorthanded goals in the same game. The other was Alexi Zhitnik on March 19, 1998 against Florida.

Linus Ullmark made 31 saves. Sabres interim coach Don Granato also earned his first win behind the bench.

Ivan Provorov scored Philadelphia’s lone goal. 

Brian Elliott started in goal for the Flyers and allowed four goals on 16 shots. He was replaced in net by Alexi Lyon with 4:21 left in the second after Buffalo went ahead 4-1. Lyon finished the game with nine saves in 24:08 of action.

What happened

Buffalo struck first thanks to a lucky bounce 9:32 into the game. Kyle Okposo dished the puck to Reinhart in the slot. Reinhart kicked the puck up to his stick and threw one on net. The puck then deflected off the knee of Flyers defenseman Justin Braun and in past Elliott.

The Sabres went up 2-0 for the second game in a row against the Flyers 8:01 left in the first. Riley Sheahan blocked a shot at his own blue line and attracted a crowd as he skated in on the rush. He slowed and turned his body to protect the puck as he reached the crease and found Lazar coming in as the trailer. Lazar put it in for his fifth goal of the season. 

The Flyers got within one 3:50 into the second period when Provorov’s shot from the point went off Montour and in. 

Fogarty helped regain the two-goal lead to make it 3-1 with his marker at the 9:42 mark of the second thanks to some strong play in front of the net. 

Coming off the bench, Mittelstadt put one five hole to chase Elliott from the crease with 4:21 remaining in the second. 

Montour added two goals late in the third period. He scored an empty netter with 5:07 left and then scored again on 37 seconds later on Lyon to give Buffalo that 6-1 edge.

Roll the highlight film

Here’s Fogarty’s first NHL goal:

Video: PHI@BUF: Fogarty sticks with it and finds the twine

He now has a point in each of his last two games played (1+2) – the first points of his 22-game NHL career.

Worth mentioning

Rookie defenseman Jacob Bryson returned to the lineup after missing Monday’s game with an upper-body injury. He skated 22:31 Wednesday with a pair of assists (his first multi-point game) while paired with Rasmus Ristolainen. 

Okposo has five points (2+4) in his last five games after recording the primary assists on Reinhart’s goal and Montour’s second shorty.

Forward Curtis Lazar did not play in the third period. He missed a significant chunk of the second period while in the Sabres dressing room. His final shift ended with 54 seconds left in the second. 

Coming up

The Sabres are back in action tomorrow night when they host the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550. Pregame coverage on MSG begins at 6:30.