High Five, Flyers Take Down Sabres

"The Philadelphia Flyers have won five games in a row and tonight's 2-1 victory over the visiting Buffalo Sabres was probably hardest fought victory of the current streak.

The Sabres quieted the home crowd with a Ryan O'Reilly goal just 1:29 after the opening faceoff. Brian Elliott left his crease to play the puck behind the net, but Zemgus Girgensons forced him into a turnover then made a one-handed pass to the slot where O'Reilly fired the puck into a wide open net.

Elliott nearly gave Buffalo another gift goal a few moments later as he turned the puck over to Sam Reinhart behind the net, but Nolan Patrick saved the day by beating Reinhart to the near post to keep the puck out.

The Flyers had a response and tied the game at the 4:02 mark. Jordan Weal forced a turnover below the goal line and Dale Weise found Travis Sanheim creeping down into the left circle where he blasted a one-timer past Robin Lehner for his first career NHL goal.

Late in the first period, Shayne Gostisbehere went off the ice and straight into the Flyers locker room after a collision with both Jack Eichel and Jason Pominville. He did return to the game to start the second period.

The Flyers grabbed a 2-1 lead at 17:27 of the second period. After a failed clearing attempt, Michael Raffl got the puck down to Jakub Voracek at the goal line who found Valtteri Filppula in the slot where he lifted the puck over Lehner's blocker for his eighth goal of the year.

Buffalo produced a ton of pressure over the final few minutes of the game, but they were unable to get the equalizer to force overtime. In the end, Brian Elliott made 19 saves to pick up his fifth win in a row as well.

The Flyers are off until Saturday when they host the Dallas Stars.
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