It was a game that slipped away, especially for Jhonas Enroth, as the Sabres’ impressive home streak came to a halt and watched the Flyers rallied for a 4-3 victory at the First Niagara Center on Tuesday night.
Buffalo led for a majority of the contest, but seemed to collapse when it mattered most. Vincent Lecavalier put home the game winning goal with just 14 seconds remaining in regulation. Buffalo pulled Enroth for the extra attacker, but they ran out of time.
“Obviously it’s tough,” Hodgson said. “We have another game in a couple hours so we can’t dwell on it too much, have to be ready.”
With a 1-1 tie after 40 minutes, the teams combined for five goals in the last 13:33. Enroth, who has the lowest amount of goal support in the league, received three goals from his team in this one. However, he still wasn’t able to pick up the victory.
The Sabres showed signs of life late in the game, despite giving up the lead.
Scott Hartnell had buried the go-ahead goal with 4:07 remaining in the third period, giving the Flyers their first lead of the night, which came after a goaltender interference penalty to Zenon Konopka.
With 3:13 remaining in the 3rd, one of the Sabres smallest players came up big. Tyler Ennis connected for his second goal in as many games, and tied the game at three with his 10th goal of the season.
Cody Hodgson opened the scoring in the 1st period, making it the 12th time this season in which Buffalo has scored first. The Sabres carried that lead to intermission, marking just the 5th time this season they have done so.
Matt D’Agostini scored the other Buffalo goal, and also registered his 100th career point with an assist on Hodgson’s marker.
“He’s been our best player when he’s played; we just haven’t gotten him the goals,” D’Agostini said, referring to Enroth.
For Philadelphia, Brayden Schenn and Jakub Voracek found the back of the net.
Enroth kept the Flyers off the board in the opening period with a big blocker save, similar to that of Ryan Miller’s a few days earlier in Washington.
“All I can do is try to do my job,” Enroth said. “Just trying to stay focused and focus on the next shot every time.”
The Sabres will be right back at it on Wednesday in Toronto. That game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start and can be seen on MSG.