Brad Boyes and the Buffalo Sabres proved how much they 
wanted to win with a comeback victory against the top team in the Eastern Conference. The Sabres rallied for five goals in the final two periods to defeat Philadelphia 5-3.
Andrej Sekera and Brad Boyes each collected two points on the day as they continued their hot streaks. Thomas Vanek and Paul Gaustad both had a pair of points as well.
The Sabres failed to capitalize with a two man advantage early in the first period. Philadelphia’s Kris Versteeg put the Flyers on the board with a power play goal.
Later on, James van Riemsdyk utilized a 2-0n-1 perfectly as he backhanded a shot into the top corner to beat Miller and give the Flyers a 2-0 lead.
The Sabres came alive in the second period. Drew Stafford earned his 25th goal of the season just as the Flyers’ penalty expired. Buffalo then got a fluke goal which was credited to Tyler Ennis.
Ennis threw the puck to the front of the net as Patrick Kaleta was knocked into Sergei Bobrovsky. The puck ended up in the back of the net off of a Flyers’ defenseman and only a few Sabres knew they scored.
Andrej Sekera gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead with his third goal of the season, causing the Flyers to use their timeout.
Kimmo Timonen was left all alone in front of the Sabres net as he scored a short-handed goal to tie the game at three. It was his 100th career NHL goal and the Sabres 12th short-handed goal allowed this season, which is the worst in the league.
Jason Pominville redirected a pass from Vanek into the net, giving the Sabres a 4-3 lead. Nathan Gerbe sealed the win with an empty net goal as the Sabres went on to win 5-3.
Ryan Miller made 33 of 36 saves in the win while Bobrovsky made 30 of 34 in the loss.
The win puts the Sabres just one point out of the eighth spot in the Conference. The Sabres will head to Minnesota on Sunday for a matchup against the Wild. Jhonas Enroth is expected to make the start in that game.
This was the first of three games in four days for the Sabres and they came out with a huge two points. By Tuesday, Buffalo won’t have any games in hand on Carolina, so the Sabres need to win these next couple of games.
Mike Grier left the game with a lower body injury and did not return.