The Flyers utilized a three goal second period to help themselves get closer to clinching a playoff spot as they defeated the Sabres 5-2 at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday night.
Cody Hodgson scored in Buffalo’s third consecutive loss. Hodgson has now scored a career-best 19 goals this season and his 41 points are a new career-high.
With the loss, the Sabres dropped all three games to Philadelphia this season, giving up at least four goals to the Flyers in each of them.
Matt Read opened the scoring in the first period with his 21st goal of the season, beating Nathan Lieuwen after the rebound came off the goal post. Although Buffalo was only down by one after the opening period, the Flyers were the team in control and they outshot Buffalo 14-5.
The shot total didn’t get much better as the Flyers ended up with 37 to Buffalo’s 19.
The second period was when the Sabres suffered the most damage as Philadelphia scored a trio of goals. Zac Rinaldo, Brayden Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier all beat Lieuwen as they went up by four.
Rinaldo received a match penalty after elbowing Chad Ruhwedel in the head early in the third period. Because of it, the Sabres had a man advantage for five minutes. The Sabres broke the shutout with Hodgson’s goal, but lost Ruhwedel for the remainder of the game and possibly longer.
The Sabres added another goal late in the third as Mike Weber recorded his first of the season while the Flyers had a delayed penalty upcoming.
Despite being in a playoff position, the Flyers needed to get points with teams behind them. Mark Streit contributed in this one by tallying three assists on the night.
Buffalo will head home to take on Detroit in its’ second-last home game of the season. That game is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday.