PHILADELPHIA _ The Flyers pledged that they would not look past the Sabres.
Never mind that they were playing their third game in four nights or that they've spent a ton of energy putting together an extended winning streak. They were not going to get caught looking ahead, not going to get caught flat-footed.
They may have been sloppy Saturday night, but they were also victorious.
Claude Giroux scored two gorgeous goals and Carter Hart continued his dominance at home with 38 saves as the Flyers did enough to beat the Sabres, 3-1, for their ninth win a row.
The Flyers slogged through the first half of the game until Giroux took a pass off his skates and backhanded a shot past Carter Hutton.
It was 1-1 entering the third period when Giroux vowed the Flyers were not going to fall to a Sabres team that had lost five in a row.
"We are not playing good hockey right now," the captain said after the second period. "We aren't playing our style, we aren't hard enough on pucks. We're going to start doing that in the third period here."
Jake Voracek assisted on both of Giroux's goals, giving him 10 in the last five games. His second was a pass that Giroux batted out of the air just inches off the ice.
Hart stopped 15 shots in the third period.
In the second, he took one to the jewels, which understandably left him stunned for a few moments. Three minutes later, Dominik Kahun turned a Travis Sanheim turnover into the Sabres' only goal. The other Flyers defenders mostly watched as Hart futilely tried to make a diving stop.
That's probably what annoyed Giroux.
The win improved Hart to a remarkable 20-2-2 at home this season, tying Tampa's Andrei Vasilevskiy and St. Louis' Jordan Binnington for most home wins this season.
The Flyers killed off four power plays and Joel Farabee added his first goal since being recalled following James van Riemsdyk's hand injury.
The Flyers were heavy favorites entering the game but did enough to move back into a virtual tie with Washington for first place in the Metropolitan Division. They are off until Tuesday, when they will host the conference-leading Bruins. They will play at Tampa two nights later. They could use the rest.
