PHILADELPHIA – The Buffalo Sabres’ Victor Olofsson and Tage Thompson hit for doubles on Sunday in a 5-3 win over the Flyers.”I liked our game,” Sabres coach Don Granato said.
“Took us a little bit to get into it. [Tokarski] helped us get through a little bit of a phase, and then the guys were good.”
Dustin Tokarski made 31 saves in the Sabres win.
Kevin Hayes scored for the Flyers to give them a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Buffalo improved to 29-38-11.
The Sabres replied to the early deficit with two strikes in the first.
Olofsson and Anders Bjork pushed the Sabres up, 2-1.
“It was a little interesting because I had way more time than I thought I would,” Bjork said. “It’s unexpected, a little bit of a surprise. I tried to stay calm and get a good shot off.”
Philadelphia tied it, 2-2, in the second period off a goal from Noah Cates.
“At different points, I’d say it’s a matter of execution,” Flyers coach Mike Yeo said. “At different points, it’s a matter of puck support. But the ability to advance the puck, to get the puck out of our zone and to get onto the attack, too many times that turned into chances against or goals against here tonight.”
Again, the Sabres replied with two goals of their own.
Olofsson scored his second power play of the game for a 3-2 lead, and Thompson added a goal for a 4-2 lead heading to the third.
The Flyers dropped to 23-42-11.
Rasmus Dahlin had two assists for the Sabres.
“I think the big part is competitiveness,” Granato said. “He is an extreme competitor, but he was so concerned with trying to maybe hold his spot or not make a mistake and we gave him the green light to just go.
“What we really wanted to unleash was his competitiveness, just not worry about anything but competing and be immersed in the moment. And he’s been able to accelerate progress from that point because he’s so competitive.”
The Flyers’ Zack MacEwen scored in the early minutes of the final frame to make it 4-3.
Thompson scored his second of he game into an empty-net for the 5-3 final.
“I first had him when he was 17 years old,” Granato said. “And I can tell you then, I was sad to see to our season end, sad that I wasn’t coaching him anymore. But this is why, because he just has so much potential.”
Felix Sandstrom made 35 saves in the Flyers loss.
“They have a lot of good shooters and both sides, so that makes it hard to defend against,” Sandstrom said. “They have options like that. I think we did a good job staying on the inside, but we have to go harder on the top. Unfortunately, we had a couple go in (on the penalty kill).”
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