Sabres at Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers were aware they were in for an uphill climb without the services of forward Sean Couturier, who is sidelined until the end of February with a lower-body injury. The reeling Flyers have dropped three straight and are 2-8-2 without the second-line center heading into Thursday's home game against the Buffalo Sabres.
"He's a big part of our team; we all knew that," general manager Ron Hextall told Philly.com. "Would we like him back tomorrow? Yeah. It would be terrific. But it's not going to happen, so we're going to go with what we've got. And we need to find ways to win games." The Sabres are also mired in a three-game skid, although they ventured past regulation in both ends of a home-and-home loss to Boston before getting outslugged 7-4 by Florida on Tuesday. Sam Reinhart recorded his second multi-goal performance of the season to increase his total to 16, which is tied for third among rookies with teammate Jack Eichel.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG-B (Buffalo), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE SABRES (21-27-6): Eichel, who has notched just two assists in his last four games, scored in Buffalo's 3-1 triumph over Philadelphia on Oct. 30. Ryan O'Reilly had a goal and two assists in that contest and has set up five tallies during his current four-game point streak, but his 13-game goal drought is weighing on him. "Very frustrated," O'Reilly told BuffaloHockeyBeat.com. "I'm obviously not confident in shooting the puck right now. My 5-on-5 play is not where I'd like it to be, but I'm trying. I got to find new things, find new ways to have success."
ABOUT THE FLYERS (23-20-9): Shayne Gostisbehere extended his point streak to nine games (two goals, 10 assists) by setting up Wayne Simmonds' goal in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to Anaheim. Gostisbehere is the first rookie defenseman with a nine-game point streak since Colorado's Kevin Shattenkirk accomplished the feat from Nov. 17-Dec. 4, 2010, according to Elias Sports Bureau. As for Simmonds, the 27-year-old has seven goals and three assists in his last eight games.
OVERTIME
1. Buffalo C Zemgus Girgensons, who scored the overtime goal in his team's 4-3 win over Philadelphia on Oct. 27, was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday with an upper-body ailment.
2. Philadelphia G Steve Mason has yielded just eight goals during the team's three-game skid.
3. The Sabres reached out to Rochester of the American Hockey League and recalled F Justin Bailey, the son of former Buffalo Bills LB Carlton Bailey.