Sabres at Flyers
THE STORY: The Philadelphia Flyers will look to put their two-game losing skid behind them when they host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. The Flyers are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the fourth seed and the New Jersey Devils are just a point behind. The Flyers have a game in hand on the Penguins. This is the third of four meetings between the clubs - with Philadelphia winning the first two games in Buffalo.
TV: 7 p.m. ET. MSG-Buffalo, CSN-Philadelphia
ABOUT THE SABRES (24-26-6): Buffalo has also lost two straight, and is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games. The Sabres are coming off a 4-1 home loss to the Devils. Captain Jason Pominville’s 21st goal of the season was the lone tally while Ryan Miller made 27 saves to fall to 16-17-3 on the season. The Sabres, who are 11-15-0 on the road this season, will return home for their next four games after playing in Philadelphia.
ABOUT THE FLYERS (31-18-7): Philadelphia, which is playing its next two contests at home before a four-game trip on the West Coast, is coming off a 4-3 road loss to the NHL-leading Detroit Red Wings. Rookie Brayden Schenn collected his first career two-goal game while Max Talbot also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves. It was the fourth straight contest in which the Flyers failed to score on the power play, after scoring at least one in their previous six outings. To make matters worse, Philadelphia has allowed two or more power-play goals in three of its last six and one goal in its last four outings.
OVERTIME:
1. All-Star Claude Giroux is among the worst on the team with a minus-3. His linemates are Jaromir Jagr (plus-8) and All-Star Scott Hartnell, who leads the team with a plus-16.
2. Giroux had three assists to go along with his overtime-winning goal in the last meeting with Buffalo. Hartnell scored the game-winner in the first Flyers' win over the Sabres.