The Flyers showed all the life of a department-store mannequin for most of the first two periods Monday at the KeyBank Center.
But they came to life in the third period, overcame a 3-0 deficit, and jolted the poor Buffalo Sabres as Ivan Provorov scored early in overtime to give the Flyers a 4-3 win.
Provorov finished off a two-on-one with Travis Konecny and scored the second overtime goal of his career.
With their goalie pulled for an extra attacker, Sean Couturier scored on a scramble in front -- after the Sabres missed a shot at an empty net -- to knot the score at 3-3 with 1:29 left. That set the stage for Provorov.
“The urgency was there...in the third period,” Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. “We knew if wanted to come back, we had to play harder and smarter. But the way we played in the first two periods is really frustrating, and it’s not the first time it’s happened.”
It was the 18th straight loss for Buffalo, which blew a 4-2 third-period lead against the Flyers earlier in the month.
The Sabres have not won since they defeated host New Jersey, 4-1, on Feb. 23, back when Ralph Krueger was still Buffalo’s coach.
Until they dominated the third period, the Flyers were so outplayed that they somehow made the wretched Sabres – who took an NHL-worst 6-23-4 record into the game – look like a quality team.
Outplayed for most of the first 40 minutes, the Flyers finally showed life early in the third as Kevin Hayes scored from the slot, cutting Buffalo’s lead to 3-1 with 18:10 left in regulation. Giroux made it 3-2 with 9:09 remaining, converting Couturier’s feed. About eight minutes later, Couturier tied it.
Before the game, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said he was leaning on his leadership group, which is headed by his captain, Giroux, to make sure his team didn’t take the Sabres lightly.
They apparently didn’t get the message because Buffalo controlled the first period. The Flyers were outshot (13-8), outhustled, and outplayed as they fell into a 1-0 hole.
It marked just the eighth time in 34 games this season that the Sabres had a lead after an opening period.
A defensive breakdown that had all five Flyers skaters on one side of the ice led to the Buffalo goal, scored by all-alone defenseman Henri Jokiharju, who put a right-circle shot through the legs of goalie Brian Elliott with 2:19 left in the first.
If not for Elliott, the Flyers would have faced a huge first-period deficit. He made saves on close-range shots by Tobias Rieder, Dylan Cozens, and Sam Reinhart.
Down the other end, the Flyers’ best chance was a shorthanded two-on-one, but they never got off a shot because of an off-target pass from Hayes.
In March, the Flyers have been outscored in the opening period, 25-9. They were outscored in the first period by woeful Buffalo, 4-1, in their two meetings this month.
The Sabres, who were without star center Jack Eichel (upper-body injury), continued to win puck battles early in the second period, leading to several scoring chances. Cody Eakin made it 2-0 as he scored on a one-timer from the right circle with 17:50 left in the second, putting a shot under Elliott’s glove to the short side.
A short time later, Elliott kept it at 2-0 by making saves on point-blank shots by Taylor Hall and Tage Thompson. But the Sabres kept swarming, kept finding seams in the offensive zone, kept getting to most loose pucks.
The relentless pressure led to another goal, this one a high shot from the slot by defenseman Brandon Montour that increased Buffalo’s lead to 3-0 with 7:17 to go in the second. Two of the Sabres’ goals were scored by defensemen who jumped into the play.
