The Flyers went into Buffalo to face a team that is limping, griping, and in last place in the division and did precisely what they needed to do.
Brian Elliott stopped all 23 shots and Sean Couturier, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Scott Laughton scored as the Flyers picked up a methodical 3-0 victory.
Now, they get to do it all over again. The teams will run it right back on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m., NBCSP).
Gostisbehere was up on his skates, as Gene Hart used to stay. He had six shots on goal for the second consecutive game.
The Flyers are 10-4-3, gathering points and picking up reinforcements.
James van Riemsdyk had one assist and was involved in the forecheck that led to another as he continued piling up the points. He has 20 points in his last 13 games.
A pair of long diagonal passes covering about 160 feet was an exclamation point for the Comeback Line. Jake Voracek dished a cross-ice backhand to Oskar Lindblom, who spotted Laughton streaking down the left side for a pretty goal with 66 seconds left in the second period for the Flyers’ final goal.
The three were playing their first game since coming off the COVID-19 list.
Rather than try to intersperse each within the existing lines, coach Alain Vigneault kept the three players together to let them figure out their own chemistry. They had one practice on Friday, and don’t figure to have another until maybe the middle of this week.
Buffalo (6-9-3) played without captain Jack Eichel and starting goalie Linus Ullmark. Eichel is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Ullmark is out for a month with a lower-body injury.
Jeff Skinner, who had been scratched the previous three games, was in the lineup. His production and playing time, or lack thereof, combined with his $9 million salary has been a source of consternation among Sabres fans. But that’s their problem.
The Flyers held off the Sabres with a defense group that did not include Phil Myers, a second-pairing stalwart alongside Travis Sanheim who was scratched for the first time this season.
Claude Giroux did not register a point, but he had four of the Flyers’ 39 shots and passed Bill Barber for second place in team history in games played. Atop that list is Bobby Clarke with 1,144, Giroux 904 and Barber 903.
Saturday was the first of six games in nine days, something Vigneault can’t recall he’s ever seen. It was as good a start as he could have wanted. His team picked up two points in regulation, just about everyone contributed, and no one got hurt.
