Thompson, Doan each has 2 assists; Philadelphia drops 4th in row
Flyers at Sabres | Recap
BUFFALO — Rasmus Dahlin scored twice on the power play, and the Buffalo Sabres won for the 14th time in their past 16 games with a 5-2 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.
“We knew how important this game was coming in, and we have to play them like playoff games,” Dahlin said. “And we’ve been doing that really good. That’s one of the things we’ve really improved on, that we know how important these games are.”
Ryan McLeod had a goal and an assist, Tage Thompson and Josh Doan each had two assists, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 20 saves for the Sabres (25-16-4), who are 14-2-0 since Dec. 9.
Buffalo scored five times despite recording just 14 shots on goal.
“Today, we scored on them, but that’s an area we have to improve, and we can’t be happy with 14 shots,” Dahlin said. “We need more volume.”
PHI@BUF: Dahlin notches a PPG for 1-0 lead in the 1st
Sabres center Josh Norris left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return after he was cross-checked by Philadelphia defenseman Nick Seeler.
“The cross-check took him out of the game,” said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff, who noted it was to the ribs. “He’ll be evaluated in the morning. We’re hoping it’s nothing too serious.”
Owen Tippett and Trevor Zegras scored for the Flyers (22-15-8), who have lost four straight (0-3-1). Dan Vladar allowed two goals on five shots before leaving after the first period with an injury. Samuel Ersson stopped six of eight shots in relief.
“I think right from the start, I think we almost maybe respected them a bit too much,” Tippett said. “A few of those guys you kind of have to play hard and take their time and space away. I think some penalties crept in that might have ended up hurting us, too. At the end of the day, I think we need to be ready to play right from the start.”
Dahlin scored on the power play to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 9:30 of the first period, beating Vladar inside the left post with a snap shot from the top of the right circle.
Mattias Samuelsson extended it to 2-0 at 15:13 after receiving a pass from Noah Ostlund in the slot and snapping it in blocker side. The play started with Doan picking off Zegras’ pass in the neutral zone and sending it up for Ostlund.
Jack Quinn pushed it to 3-0 at 4:22 of the second period, burying a feed from McLeod, who was behind the net, under the bar from the right hash mark.
Tippett cut it to 3-1 at 10:28 when he carried the puck from the neutral zone to above the right circle and beat Luukkonen inside the near post.
PHI@BUF: Tippett puts the Flyers on the board in 2nd
Dahlin scored his second power-play goal from the high slot to extend it to 4-1 at 13:51.
“I can just say that the young man’s been through a lot,” Ruff said of Dahlin. “There’s a guy that cares. He’s not happy with his game. What some would assess would be a good game, he says that’s not his standard. I think that’s a great place to be. I think he knows.
“I thought tonight he really skated well. You can look at the goals as an end result. The way he skated up ice, handled the puck, I think there’s more. That’s always the challenge with where you’re at as a team. Like, do you have more? I think he understands that part.”
Zegras scored on the power play to narrow it to 4-2 at 7:37 of the third period after Travis Konecny’s pass through the crease redirected off his skate past Luukkonen back door.
McLeod scored short-handed into an empty net at 19:20 for the 5-2 final.
“We’re not playing smart hockey,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. “I know they only had 14 shots, but they capitalized. We gave them middle ice on three shots. We had moments but we’re not delivering right now so that’s the key, that’s it. If you’re giving up 14 shots, but we’re giving up four unbelievable middle shots, which is, the last couple of games, uncharacteristic of the team right now.”
NOTES: Tocchet did not have an update on Vladar. … Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. He is day to day. … Jamie Drysdale had one shot on goal in 25:25 of ice time in his return after missing three games with an upper-body injury. … Dahlin recorded his fifth multigoal game, matching Jerry Korab and John Van Boxmeer for second most by a defenseman in Sabres history. … Dahlin’s first goal was his 15th game-opening goal, passing Alexei Zhitnik for second most by a defenseman in Sabres history, behind only Phil Housley (24). … Luukkonen extended his home winning streak to seven games to tie the second-longest run in Buffalo history. … Forward Tyson Kozak played 9:05 in his first game since Dec. 18 after missing 11 games because of an upper-body injury and then as a healthy scratch.
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