The Buffalo Sabres came out flying, looking like a team that was hungry for their first win in quite some time. However, the Sabres only managed to score once on 39 shots on goal in a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
The Sabres opened up the game by outshooting the Flyers 13-4 in the first period, but neither team was able to find the back of the net. Sabres winger Sam Reinhart had a breakaway on Flyers goalie Carter Hart, but he couldn't get the puck past the young netminder.
The second period saw Claude Giroux net his 20th goal of the season to open the scoring at the 10:04 mark. A point shot from defenseman Travis Sanheim was tipped in front by forward Jakub Voracek, and Giroux barely caught the rebound on his forehand before switching over to his backhand for the goal. Carter Hutton was able to get a piece of it, but it wasn't enough to stop the Flyers captain.
The Sabres were able to answer right back nearly seven minutes later with a great tic-tac-toe play from Marcus Johansson, who drew a defender after floating a puck over to Victor Olofsson. Everyone in the building figured Olofsson would shoot the puck, which is how Dominik Kahun ended up wide-open for the tap-in past Hart.
The Sabres carried the 1-1 draw to the third period, where Buffalo unraveled once again.
Buffalo got two power plays early in the period to try and take their first lead of the night, but each time couldn't convert.
Giroux made the Sabres pay once again with 10:32 remaining in regulation when Voracek found him in the slot and he fired a shot off the post and to the back of the net to put the Flyers up 2-1.
Later in the period, Rasmus Ristolainen was under pressure from a Flyers forechecker and decided to feed the puck back to Hutton in his crease. As he tried to play the puck ahead, his attempt ended up being knocked down by forward Joel Farabee, who put it past the unsuspecting Hutton for a two-goal Flyers lead.
The Sabres come back home to host Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Monday night at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. with the Paul William Beltz Pregame Show starting at 6 p.m. with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog at (716) Food and Sport.