February 19, 2015
Chris Szagola/AP
Flyers center Chris Vande Velde reaches for the puck as he tries to slip between Sabres goalie Michal Neuvirth and defenseman Zach Bogosian, right.
Brian Flynn scored the clinching goal in the shootout, leading the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.
Nicolas Deslauriers and Brian Gionta scored in regulation for Buffalo, which won for just the fourth time in the last 27 games. The Sabres improved to 7-2 in shootouts.
Jakub Voracek and Ryan White scored for Philadelphia, which fell to 2-7 in the tiebreaker.
The Flyers carried a nine-game point streak into the opener of a four-game homestand on Tuesday against Columbus, but absorbed a disappointing loss to the Blue Jackets before earning a single point against the lowly Sabres, hurting their already slim playoff chances. Philadelphia began the day seven points behind Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Flyers' struggles in shootouts continued against Buffalo.
After Voracek tallied on Philadelphia's first shootout attempt, Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Sean Couturier came up empty. Ray Emery stopped Zemgus Girgensons and Tyler Ennis after Gionta scored in the tiebreaker. But Flynn deked past Emery to win it for Buffalo.
Gionta gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead by scoring on a rebound just 38 seconds into the second period. It was the 500th career point for Gionta, making him the 49th American to reach the milestone.
Voracek broke out of a goal-scoring slump with 11:15 left in the second, tying it at 2 with a power-play tally. Simmonds' shot from in close rebounded to Voracek, who fired it over Michal Neuvirth's glove.
Voracek had just one goal in his last 14 games and it was an empty-netter. It was his first score against a goalie since Jan. 12.
The assist gave Simmonds a six-game point streak (four goals, four assists), tying a career high.
Buffalo had a goal disallowed with just over five minutes left in the third period when Girgensons shoveled the puck into the net with his hand.
Deslauriers opened the scoring 4:41 into the first. Brian Flynn sent a pass to front of the net and Deslauriers partially fanned on the shot, but he got enough of it to get it past Emery, who couldn't corral the bouncing puck.
Philadelphia tied it 2 1/2 minutes later when White netted his first goal in his 10th game this season. Braydon Coburn took the initial shot and White hustled to the far post after Coburn's shot bounced off the boards and out in front of the crease, beating Neuvirth with a quick shot from right in front.
• The Flyers inducted former defenseman Eric Desjardins into the club's Hall of Fame in a pregame ceremony.
• Giroux's scoring drought reached 10 games.
• Buffalo snapped a five-game losing streak in Philadelphia, winning in the Flyers' building for the first time since March 5, 2011.
