Philly Sports Jabronis
Report By Philadelphia Flyers
* The Flyers have had seven of their nine shootouts come on home ice this season.
* Wayne Simmonds extended his point streak to six straight games – he has four goals and four assists for eight points.
* Simmonds recorded seven shots on goal, while Claude Giroux was credited with two but had nine more that didn’t reach the net.
* Ryan White recorded his first goal as a Flyer.
* The Flyers had 84 shot attempts, two days after recording 85 attempts vs. Columbus.
GAME RECAP
PHILADELPHIA — Brian Flynn scored in the fourth round of the shootout, and the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday to end a four-game losing streak.
Flynn skated through the middle of the ice, deked Flyers goalie Ray Emery and tucked the puck inside the right post.
Nicolas Deslauriers and Brian Gionta each had a goal in regulation for the Sabres (17-37-4). Michal Neuvirth made 36 saves through overtime, then stopped three of four Flyers shooters in the tiebreaker.
Ryan White and Jakub Voracek scored for the Flyers (24-23-11). Ray Emery, making his sixth straight start, made 30 saves through overtime.
Each team had chances to take the lead in the third period. The Sabres had a power play early in the period whenBrayden Schenn was called for hooking, but they managed one shot on goal. Buffalo also got a chance with the man-advantage in the final minute of the third when Philadelphia defenseman Nick Schultz was called for tripping with 57.2 seconds remaining.
The Flyers had a power play in the middle of the period when Chris Stewart was sent off for hooking.
The closest anyone came to scoring in the third came with 5:11 remaining when the Sabres’ Zemgus Girgensons got into the crease and shoved a loose puck between his legs with his glove. The play initially was ruled a goal, but after the referees conferred, the goal was waved off.
Voracek’s 19th goal made it 2-2. With the Flyers on the power play, Wayne Simmonds walked in front of the Sabres net and took a shot that Neuvirth stopped. The rebound went to the right side to Voracek, who scored from a sharp angle at 8:45 of the second.
It was Voracek’s first goal against a goalie in 15 games, dating to Jan. 12 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Voracek has one goal in that span, an empty-netter against the Washington Capitals on Feb. 8.
Simmonds has at least a point in six straight games, tying his career-best streak; he has four goals and four assists in that span. He also scored in six straight from Nov. 25-Dec. 5, 2009, with the Los Angeles Kings.
Gionta’s goal 32 seconds into the second period gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead. Torrey Mitchell put a bouncing shot on net that Emery stopped but couldn’t control. Gionta got to the front of the net and batted the puck out of the air and past Emery for his sixth goal.
The goal gave Gionta 500 career points; he’s the 49th American-born player to reach that milestone. The assist was Mitchell’s 100th career point.
White tied the game at 7:23 of the first on his first goal with the Flyers. Schenn made a nice play to pause at the blue line to allow R.J. Umberger to get onside, then skated down the left-wing boards, avoided a Rasmus Ristolainen check and fired a pass through the zone to Braydon Coburn above the right circle. Coburn’s shot missed the net but bounced in front, and White scored before Neuvirth could track the puck.
“[Schenn] made a good play on the wall getting past his [defenseman] and threw the puck back to the point,” White said. “[Coburn] just tried to get it on net as I was going to the net, and I got there at the right time. The puck bounced right on to my stick and you have to put those away.”
It was White’s first goal in more than a year; he had not scored in 25 games, dating to Feb. 8, 2014, with the Montreal Canadiens.
Deslauriers gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 4:41 of the first on his first goal in 21 games. Michael Del Zotto tried to clear a loose puck out of the Philadelphia zone, but Ristolainen held his weak attempt inside the zone and sent the puck into the left circle to Flynn, who pushed it into the slot. Deslauriers mostly fanned on the shot, getting just enough of it that it knuckled low and past Emery for his fifth goal.
