PHILADELPHIA _ No Wayne Simmonds. No letdown by the Flyers.
One night after the popular right winger was traded to Nashville, the Flyers continued their impressive play, whipping Buffalo, 5-2, at the Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday.
Brian Elliott made 34 saves and five different players scored goals as the Flyers improved to 14-3-1 in their last 18 games. They moved one point ahead of Buffalo, but remained seven points behind in the playoff race with 19 games left.
Wins by Carolina, Montreal and Pittsburgh didn't help the Flyers' playoff cause.
Defenseman Travis Sanheim joined the rush, took a feed from Sean Couturier and scored from the slot 46 seconds into the third period, increasing the Flyers' lead to 4-2.
Elliott made key stops on Jeff Skinner, Zach Bogosian and Rasmus Dahlin in the first half of the third period as the Flyers maintained their two-goal lead.
With 2:55 left, Claude Giroux (two points) secured the win with an empty-net goal.
In the opening period, goals by Oskar Lindblom and Jake Voracek gave the Flyers an early lead, but Jack Eichel's power-play tally cut the deficit to 2-1.
Shortly after an ineffective power play, an all-alone Lindblom scored from the right side of the net with 17:12 left in the first. It was the rookie left winger's 12th goal and fourth in the last five games.
About five minutes later, Voracek (seven shots) scored on his second rebound, putting the Flyers ahead, 2-0.
With 7:52 remaining in the first, Eichel cut the deficit to 2-1, beating Elliott from the left circle while Scott Laughton was in the penalty box for hooking.
The Flyers had a 19-6 shots domination in the opening period.
The first period included two jarring hits by newly acquired Ryan Hartman (6 foot, 181 pounds), who sent Dahlin (6-2, 190) and Jake McCabe (6-1, 206) to the ice with checks.
"I felt great. Just trying to get the nerves out a little," said Hartman, who had two good scoring chances turned aside by Carter Hutton in the first half of the game.
James van Riemsdyk, scoring his fourth goal in the last seven games, increased the Flyers' lead to 3-1 with 4:47 left in the second period, redirecting Robert Hagg's point drive past Hutton.
Buffalo got to within 3-2 as Casey Mittelstadt finished a two-on-one with 2:07 remaining in the second. But Sanheim's sixth goal of the season gave the Flyers some breathing room.
Abandoned by his defense, Hutton was removed from Monday's game in Toronto after allowing three goals on 12 shots. The Maple Leafs won the game, 5-3.
The Flyers used the same jerseys they wore in Saturday's thrilling 4-3 overtime win over Pittsburgh at Lincoln Financial Field. They scored three goals, two with Elliott pulled for an extra skater, in the final 5:03.
This time, they didn't need an epic comeback as they improved to 30-26-7, including an 18-11-3 record since Scott Gordon became the interim coach.
