Jason Pominville helps Buffalo Sabres defeat Philadelphia Flyers 5-3
Jason Pominville tallied the go-ahead goal early in the final stanza, as the Buffalo Sabres cruised past the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Flyers 5-3, at the Wells Fargo Centre on Saturday night.
Drew Stafford, Tyler Ennis and Andrej Sekera each notched a goal four minutes apart during the middle frame for the Sabres, who improved to 2-0-1 on their seven-game road trip. With this victory, Buffalo moved to within a point of the eighth-placed Carolina
Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference.
Brad Boyes and Thomas Vanek each dished out two assists, while Ryan Miller turned aside 33-of-36 shots to pick up his 28th victory of the season.
Ryan Miller was pleased with his side’s performance because they capitalised on their chances. He said, “Anything is possible [when the] team hunkers down and wants to work and get pucks to the net. We got pucks to the net and got the bounces we were looking
for and we capitalised on the chances."
Kris Versteeg, James van Riemsdyk and Kimmo Timonen each lit the lamp for Philadelphia, who have dropped three consecutive games for the first time since late November last year. The Flyers had not lost three straight in regulation time since 14-21 October.
Flyers defenceman Chris Pronger said after the game, "We're playing teams that are battling for their lives, and they are going to be desperate and play with a lot of determination and desire, and we have to match that if we want to win hockey games."
Rookie Sergei Bobrovsky surrendered all five goals on 30 shots in the loss.
Philadelphia took a 2-0 lead in the opening stanza on goals by Versteeg and van Riemsdyk. The Flyers got the scoring started with a power-play goal in the 13th minute of the first period. Versteeg, who provided a pair of goals in the 3-2 home
loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, converted a pass from Matt Carle.
Philadelphia had gone four contests in a row without a power-play goal and was just 1-for-23 over its previous seven games. With less than three minutes left in the first frame, the Flyers doubled their advantage when van Riemsdyk sunk a backhander past
the Buffalo net-minder. However, the Sabres surged ahead in the middle stanza.
Stafford got Buffalo on the board in the seventh minute of the second frame. Less than two minutes later, Ennis made it 2-2 when he fired a shot on net from a sharp angle that deflected in off Philadelphia’s Sean O’Donnell. In the 11th minute, Sekera capped
the outburst, scoring on a wraparound to give the Sabres a 3-2 lead.
Philadelphia tied the game on Timonen’s 100th career-goal with less than seven minutes remaining in the second period. Braylon Coburn dished out a pass to Timonen, who blasted a shot past Miller. The Sabres then extended their lead to 4-3 in the
seventh minute of the final frame, when Vanek passed to Pominville, who tapped the puck between the legs of the Flyers net-minder.
Moments later, Miller fired the disk over the glass but Philadelphia could not capitalise on the delay-of-game penalty. Nathan Gerbe scored an empty-netter to seal the victory with less than two minutes left.
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