Nothing spoils a perfectly good win streak like a follow-up losing skid.
Such is the case for the Buffalo Sabres who lost their fifth straight Saturday afternoon (0-3-2) in a 6-2 drubbing by the Philadelphia Flyers.
Buffalo had a 2-0 lead in the first period before the Flyers struck for six straight.
Claude Giroux had a goal and four points on the afternoon.
Claude Giroux had a four-point game in win in Buffalo – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“[Claude] did a [heck] of a job today, not just going back into the middle,” Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol said. “He’s our captain and stepped up and led the way in a lot of different fashions tonight.”
Anthony Stolarz made 28 saves to get the win.
That two-goal advantage for the Sabres was courtesy of two goals from Jack Eichel.
“We’ve got to realize, we haven’t earned anything in this league,” Eichel said. “Just because we won a couple games doesn’t mean we’re just going to put our skates on and go out there and win. Every night you play, it’s a battle. We’ve got to realize that. They just wanted it more. It’s frustrating, to say the least.”
James van Riemsdyk, Ivan Provorov, Wayne Simmonds, Dale Weise and Travis Konecny also scored for Philadelphia who improved to 12-12-3.
“[Giroux] and I, even going back to my last stint here, have always had some good chemistry and can play off each other pretty good, so it was nice to see we were able to pick up some of that where we left off,” van Riemsdyk said.
The Sabres dropped to 17-9-4.
“The streak we were on, that’s over. It means nothing now. Now I think we’re losing sight of what’s made us successful. We hadn’t worked, really, and that’s a prime example. I thought they just outworked us for 40 minutes and that’s why the game ended up 6-2. It’s frustrating,” Eichel said.
[WATCH: All Flyers vs. Sabres highlights]
Linus Ullmark made 35 saves in the loss.
“I just thought once we got the two goals we thought it was going to be an easy game,” Buffalo head coach Phil Housley said. “We stopped checking. I think even saying that it’s 2-2 in the third period, and I still thought we got outplayed in the second period because we didn’t check as well. We didn’t manage our game and there was some momentum in Philly’s corner.”
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