Gostisbehere ties game, Flyers rally past Sabres in shootout
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Shayne Gostisbehere tied the game late in regulation, Sean Couturier and Nolan Patrick scored shootout goals, and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-4 on Tuesday night.
The NHL-worst Buffalo Sabres lost their eighth straight game (0-7-1).
The Flyers rallied from a 3-1 hole to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season. Gostisbehere ripped one from the point on one knee past Jonas Johansson with 5:46 left in the third to make it 4-all.
The Sabres lost without Jack Eichel. Buffalo's captain is out with an unspecified injury, though he favored his neck after being checked into the end boards over the weekend. With a league-low six wins, Buffalo is in jeopardy of extending its playoff drought to an NHL-record matching 10th season.
The Sabres last won Feb. 23 against New Jersey.
Sam Reinhart scored twice for the Sabres. Riley Sheahan and Brandon Montour also scored goals.
James van Riemsdyk, Kevin Hayes and Claude Giroux all scored for the Flyers.
Philadelphia shut out the Sabres in three straight games this season by a combined 9-0 total but needed time to get rolling in this one.
The Flyers jumped on Johansson only 1:56 into the game on van Riemsdyk's 11th goal of the season.
Reinhart scored goals No. 9 and 10 on the season and Sheahan added his third to end the first period up 3-1 and chase goalie Carter Hart. Hart allowed three goals on just eight shots and was pulled for Brian Elliott.
Hayes backhanded in his ninth goal to close within one, but Montour gave the Sabres breathing room with his first goal of the season.
Giroux punched in his fourth goal from close range with 4:53 left in the second period.
The Sabres lost at home 3-0 to the Flyers on consecutive days last month.
“The two 3-0s were painful. It was a painful weekend for us and I think it really started the negative mojo that’s in and around our group right now and we need to be angry about what happened that weekend at home and show that we’re able to take that anger and put it into a productive, hard-working, gritty kind of game,” Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said before the game.
ROUGH SKEDDING
The Sabres are missing starting goalie Linus Ullmark, who is at least two weeks away from returning from a lower body injury. Buffalo’s blue line has also been depleted with Jake McCabe out with a season-ending right knee injury, and Will Borgen expected to miss another month with a broken forearm.
The Sabres are also hampered by a constricted schedule as a result of the team’s season being placed on pause for a two-week stretch last month following a COVID-19 outbreak that affected nine players, plus Krueger. Buffalo’s game against Philadelphia was its 14th in 23 days.
MINOR MOVE
The Sabres recalled D Henri Jokiharju from the taxi squad. Defenseman Brandon Davidson was loaned to the taxi squad.
FEELING GOOD
Krueger placed the emphasis on focusing on facing the Flyers and not the bigger picture.
“This is all about attitude right now,” Krueger said. “We’ve had a lot of adversity to deal with, but we’re dealing with it in the same way we have with good times, as we continue to push for growth, we continue to push for an attitude that moves us forward, and we continue to push for working on these solutions together.”
UP NEXT
The Sabres host the Penguins on Thursday and Saturday.
The Flyers host Washington on Thursday.
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