Sabres beat Flyers to snap losing streak
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Evander Kane had a goal and an assist to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night.
Jack Eichel had a pair of empty-net goals and Ryan O'Reilly also scored for the Sabres (9-19-7), who snapped a three-game losing streak. Robin Lehner made 33 saves.
Michael Raffl and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for the Flyers (15-13-7), who lost for only the third time this month (7-3-0). Brian Elliott made 33 saves.
O'Reilly opened the scoring 3:59 into the third period when he flipped a seemingly harmless shot at the net from the far end line to Elliott's right, and the puck banked into the net off Elliott's pad. It was O'Reilly's ninth goal.
Kane made it 2-0 on a deflection from in front of the net with 8:52 remaining. The power forward tipped Josh Gorges' one-timer from the point for his team-best 15th goal.
Philadelphia got one back late on the power play to get back in it. Raffl deflected Claude Giroux's shot from the point with 2:10 remaining.
Eichel added an empty-net goal with 1:07 remaining.
Gostisbehere made it 3-2 with 31.9 seconds left before Eichel added a second empty-net goal with .6 seconds remaining.
The game was dominated by goaltending.
Lehner was terrific in net for the Sabres. One of his best stops came on center Nolan Patrick from close range with 3:30 remaining in the second. Afterward, Lehner lunged across the crease to try and stop a quick follow-up that hit the side of the net.
Aside from Buffalo's opening goal, Elliott was sensational. With eight minutes left in the first period, he stopped Eichel with a stick save from close range. Seven minutes into the second period, he had back-to-back standout saves on Evander Kane and Ryan O'Reilly.
The lone highlight from the first period was a penalty shot for Kane after he was taken down on a breakaway. Kane's shot was stopped by Elliot's glove save.
NOTES: D Victor Antipin, D Justin Falk and C Evan Rodrigues were scratched for the Sabres. ... LW Tayor Leier and D Mark Alt were scratched for the Flyers. ... This was the second of three meetings between the two teams this season. Philadelphia won the first meeting 2-1 on Dec. 14. ... The third and final meeting takes place on Sunday, Jan. 7 in Philadelphia. ... Flyers G Michal Neuvirth played in 29 games for the Sabres from 2013-15. He was traded to the New York Islanders at the trade deadline that year before signing with Philadelphia in free agency.