Nothing comes easy for the Flyers these days.
Not even when the opponent is the worst-in-the-NHL Buffalo Sabres.
Not even when they build a two-goal lead for the first time in 13 games.
They huffed and puffed Sunday afternoon against the woeful Sabres and then, stunningly, collapsed in the last few minutes, turning a 3-2 win into a 5-3 loss to Buffalo at the Wells Fargo Center.
Jeff Skinner and Rasmus Asplund scored 25 seconds apart late in the game to give Buffalo a shocking comeback win, crippling the Flyers’ already-slim playoff hopes.
Shayne Gostisbeher’s goal early in the third period gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead, but Skinner scored on a rebound -- he kicked it into the net, but it was ruled it was not with a distinctive motion -- with 3:03 left. Carter Hart then couldn’t control a rebound and Asplund scored with 2:38 remaining to make it 4-3.
Buffalo added an empty-net goal.
“It’s hard to explain,” coach Alain Vigneault said in a glum tone. “We had that game in total control and we were giving them almost nothing. We just blew it.“
An icing by Claude Giroux occurred 11 seconds before Skinner’s game-tying goal. A giveaway by Sean Couturier helped set up Asplund’s winning goal.
“Two breakdowns and they win the game,” Vigneault said.
The Flyers were coming off a critical 3-2 win Saturday over Boston, the team they are chasing for a playoff spot.
But for what seems like the umpteenth time this season, they failed to build momentum from a key victory.
“Last year we did a good job of being consistent; this year, it’s been a problem,” Giroux said. “... Before they scored those two (late) goals, I thought we were playing a good game.”
With the loss, the Flyers remained four points behind Boston for the final East Division playoff spot, pending the Bruins’ night game against Washington. After Saturday’s contest, Boston will have two games in hand on the Flyers.
Gostisbehere has three goals in his last four games, and, yes, the Flyers are fortunate he cleared waivers recently. He now has eight goals in 31 games.
On the play that gave the Flyers the 3-2 third-period lead, James van Riemsdyk forced a Buffalo turnover in the neural zone, and Phil Myers fed Joel Farabee on the right side. Farabee sent a cross-ice pass to Gostisbehere, who put a left-circle shot through the legs of Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark with 16:13 left in regulation.
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Hart, who has had a mystifying season, has lost seven straight.
The Flyers, playing their fifth game in seven days, got first-period goals from Oskar Lindblom and Joel Farabee (team-high 15th) to take a 2-0 lead.
Lindblom, snapping an eight-game drought, was credited with his sixth goal when Gostisbehere’s crossing pass deflected off his skate and past Ullmark with 8:24 left in the first. Less than three minutes later, with a power play about to expire, a hustling Farabee scored on his own rebound to end a nine-game goal-less streak.
That gave the Flyers their first multi-goal lead since March 18, when the Flyers outlasted the Islanders, 4-3. That was also Hart’s last win.
Sunday’s lead didn’t last long. Sam Reinhart and Arttu Ruotsalainen scored 46 seconds apart to tie the game at 2 early in the second period.
On a set play that caught the Flyers flat-footed, an uncovered Reinhart, who has scored six of his 14 goals this season against the Flyers, tapped the puck past Hart afterSkinner won a draw from Sean Couturier and fed him in front.
Ruotsalainen, playing in his second NHL game, scored his first career goal and as he beat Hart with a one-time blast from the top of the right circle, putting a shot high to the short side. A failed clear by Travis Sanheim put the play in motion.
Shortly after Ruotsalainen’s goal, Nic Aube-Kubel fired over an open net, squandering a golden opportunity to put the Flyers ahead again.
With 3:35 left in the second, Couturier took a carom off the end boards and, from near the left post, was robbed by Ullmark as he somehow prevented the puck from crossing the goal line.
Buffalo, which ended an 18-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over the Flyers on March 31, was without two of its top offensive players: Taylor Hall, who was being rested because he could be dealt before Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline and the Sabres didn’t want to risk an injury, and injured center Jack Eichel.
The Flyers, who finished with a 5-3 record against Buffalo this year, will play in Washington on Tuesday, and they may have some additions or subtractions before that game if general manager Chuck Fletcher makes some moves.
