BUFFALO, N.Y. _ If the Flyers are going to make the long climb up the Metropolitan standings, they need James van Riemsdyk to start resembling the player who scored a career-high 36 goals for Toronto last season.
The big left winger, signed to a five-year, $35 million free-agent deal in the offseason, took a step in that direction Saturday afternoon at the KeyBank Center.
Skating on the Flyers' revamped first line because of an injury to Sean Couturier, van Riemsdyk steadied the Flyers with an important first-period goal in their 6-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
The Flyers overcame a 2-0 deficit by scoring six consecutive goals _ started by van Riemsdyk (two points) _ as they increased their point streak to three straight (2-0-1).
Claude Giroux's short-handed goal with 17 minutes, 11 seconds left in regulation snapped a 2-2 tie and gave the Flyers their first lead. It was his 11th goal, tops on the team.
Giroux (goal, three assists), moved from left wing to center on the new-look top line, had the 10th four-point game of his career.
Rookie goalie Anthony Stolarz stopped 28 of 30 shots and improved his record to 2-1-1.
Giroux intercepted a pass in the Sabres' attacking zone, skated up ice on a two-on-one, and beat backup goalie Linus Ullmark with a snipe to the upper-right side. That gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead and started a third-period onslaught.
A little over five minutes later, Wayne Simmonds (10th goal) made it 4-2, putting a rebound through the legs of Ullmark, who was playing because of an injury to Carter Hutton. Dale Weise (third goal), converting a behind-the-goal-line pass from Michael Raffl (two assists), made it 5-2 with 10:35 left, and then Giroux set up Travis Konecny's ninth tally to give the Flyers four goals in an 8:11 span of the third period .
Jack Eichel's two goals _ a tracer into the left corner off the rush, and a deflection _ gave Buffalo a 2-0 lead before the Flyers awakened. Eichel's goals, both scored against the Flyers top line and defensemen Robert Hagg and Andrew MacDonald, meant Buffalo's top line had accounted for its last eight tallies.
The Flyers dominated the second half of the first period and got to within 2-1 as van Riemsdyk scored on a set play with 7:08 left in the session. Van Riemsdyk scored on a one-timer from the left circle after a clean faceoff win by Giroux, who moved from left wing to center because Couturier was sidelined by an unspecified lower-body injury.
It was just van Riemsdyk's second goal of the season _ and second in the nine games since returning from a knee injury.
Both teams had numerous quality chances in the opening period, but and Stolarz and Ullmark took turns making sensational saves. Stolarz turned away 15 of 17 first-period shots, and Ullmark allowed one goal on 15 shots, including four by the revived van Riemsdyk.
Ullmark robbed Giroux on a rebound with 1:04 left in the first period. He then made even a better save while the Flyers were on a second-period power play. Jake Voracek appeared to have an open net from deep in the right circle, but Ullmark showed uncanny quickness and made a glove save at the goal line on the point-blank one-timer.
About two minutes later, defenseman Ivan Provorov took a feed from Scott Laughton and scored from the left circle, knotting the game at 2-all midway through the second. It was Provorov's third goal of the season and his first in 14 games.
In the meantime, Stolarz continued to shine. He stopped Eichel, who was in alone, as he tried to complete his hat trick early in the second period, then turned aide Kyle Okposo on a high-quality chance.
Buffalo, the NHL's most improved team, built a 4-0 first-period lead en route to a 5-2 win over the visiting Flyers on Nov. 21. That was one of the Sabres' victories during a 10-game winning streak.
Since that winning streak ended, Buffalo has lost five straight.
