The Sabres score four goals in the first to lead them to their 7th straight win.
By Chad DeDominicis / Diebytheblade.com
The Buffalo Sabres carried a six-game winning streak into tonight and you had the feeling the Philadelphia Flyers could be walking into a buzzsaw. Sure enough, that is exactly how it played out.
They started filling the net early when Jeff Skinner put a rebound by Alex Lyon to give the home team an early 1-0 lead and kept the building rocking.
Just over a minute later, Tage Thompson scored his second goal in two games. A nice move on the Flyers goaltender after a great saucer pass by Vladimir Sobotka to make it 2-0.
Nope, they weren’t done yet. Evan Rodrigues returned to the lineup tonight and scored his first of the season on the power play. Drilled home a rebound in front of Lyon to give the Sabres a commanding 3-0 lead.
The Flyers managed to get themselves going and put some pressure on the Sabres in the final portion of the period. However, the back-breaker was delivered by Johan Larsson, of course. Larsson came flying down the wing a ripped a shot over the the shoulder of Lyon to make it 4-0 with seven seconds left in the period.
Larsson wasn’t done either, on the next face off he dropped the gloves with Scott Laughton to put an exclamation point on a wild period for the Sabres.
Well, the second period didn’t go as well as the first. The Flyers tilted the ice and got themselves back into the game. Claude Giroux scored his eighth of the season to get the Flyers on the board.
Then at the final few minutes of the period, Wayne Simmonds put a rebound past Carter Hutton to make it 4-2. The Sabres were way to sloppy in the period and allowed the visitors to bring the pressure. Thankfully for Hutton they held a 2-goal lead after 40 minutes.
The Flyers continued to bring the pressure in the final 20 minutes, but as per usual, Hutton was up to the task. He made some great saves to hold the Flyers at two goals.
Eichel iced the game with a great effort to get the puck out and then chase it down to feed Sam Reinhart to make it 5-2. The Sabres are winners of seven straight with the Montreal Canadiens coming into town on Friday.