PHILADELPHIA — After Tuesday’s morning skate, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault raised some eyebrows when he said the Buffalo Sabres had a “highly skilled team.”
He even managed to keep a straight face.
Buffalo has the fewest points in the NHL and has become the definition of futility. And the lineup it put on the ice was worse than usual because it didn’t include star center Jack Eichel, who missed the game with a suspected neck injury.
The Sabres, who took a seven-game losing streak into the night, are not a very good team.
They blew a 4-2 lead as the Flyers stormed back and outlasted the Sabres in a shootout, 5-4, at the Wells Fargo Center.
Sean Couturier and Nolan Patrick scored in the shootout, and Brian Elliott denied both Buffalo shots.
Shayne Gostisbehere, taking a slick drop pass from Couturier, scored on a power-play blast with 5 minutes, 46 seconds left to knot the score at 4-4.
Before that tally, the Flyers dominated the third period, but goalie Jonas Johansson had all the answers. And when he didn’t, he was saved by the goal post three times, including Couturier’s long shot that was deflected by Joel Farabee with 8:06 left in regulation.
The Flyers killed a late tripping penalty on Jake Voracek, and the teams went into overtime.
Couturier was stopped on a breakaway with 4:08 left in overtime. With 1:51 left in OT, Elliott denied Buffalo’s Taylor Hall from point-blank range.
The Flyers outshot the Sabres 33-20.
After James van Riemsdyk’s early goal, Buffalo scored three straight times in the first period as the Flyers’ defense was invisible and goalie Carter Hart continued to struggle. Coverage mistakes down low continued to haunt the Flyers.
Sam Reinhart, who had two first-period goals, made it 1-1 as he beat Hart to the glove side from the left circle with 15:27 left in the first. That snapped the Flyers’ 185:44 shutout streak against Buffalo this season, the longest against any of their opponents in franchise history.
Riley Sheahan gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead by scoring on a backhanded rebound with 10:21 to go in the period. Seven minutes later, an unguarded Reinhart increased the advantage to 3-1 as he scored from deep inside the right circle.
Hart, who was 4-5 in his previous nine decisions, was replaced by Elliott at the start of the second period. It was the third time Hart — who seems to be playing deeper in the net than usual — was yanked out of his 15 starts this season.
The Flyers swarmed the net early in the second, and Scott Laughton, who missed a handful of first-period shifts after getting leveled by Curtis Lazar and going to the locker room, set up Kevin Hayes for his ninth goal, getting Philly to within 3-2 with 17:02 left in the period.
Defenseman Brandon Mountour, scoring his first goal in 31 games, made it 4-2 when his left-circle shot from a bad angle deflected off Gostisbehere’s stick and over Elliott’s shoulder with 13:40 to go in the second.
Claude Giroux cut it to 4-2 as he converted a sweet behind-the-end-line feed from Voracek with 4:55 remaining in the second. Giroux, who has three goals in the last four games, got inside position on defenseman Henri Jokiharju on the doorstep and scored just after a Flyers’ power play had expired.
The Flyers are in the midst of a key four-game homestand that started with Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Washington. They host the Capitals on Thursday and Saturday as they try to make up ground in the crowded East Division race.
“Its obviously important,” Hayes said before the game, referring to the homestand. “You look at the standings and everybody is right there and within a couple points. When you have home games, you have to take advantage.”
