Flyers lose 11th straight, defeated by Sabres

BUFFALO --The Philadelphia Flyers lost their 11th straight game, 6-3 to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Saturday.

The Flyers are 0-8-3 since their last win on Dec. 29, 3-2 in overtime against the Seattle Kraken, and have been outscored 43-22.
"Lose 10 in a row, you come into Buffalo and you lay a goose egg, it's embarrassing," Philadelphia forward Scott Laughton said. "It's tough right now. We need to find a way, and the only guys who are going to get us out of it are the players. We've got to come to work tomorrow, have a good practice and be ready. There's not much else to say. We've got to get ourselves out of this. It's not acceptable at this level."
Peyton Krebs scored his first two NHL goals, and Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner each scored twice with an assist for the Sabres (13-21-7), who had lost nine straight at home. Michael Houser made 30 saves to win his second of two starts.
"I think in the past games we've let leads slip in the third, and that's something we've been working to correct," Thompson said. "Now we're just trying to shake it off and keep pressing forward, and I think that we did a good job with that, going into the third with the lead and getting the win."

Claude Giroux scored two goals, and Rasmus Ristolainen scored for the Flyers (13-20-8) in his first game against the Sabres since being traded by Buffalo on July 23, 2021.
"I think we're all in this together," Giroux said. "Right now, it feels like we're hitting rock bottom and it just feels like we can't catch a break. We do a lot of good things out there, but when something bad happens, it's really bad."
Martin Jones allowed four goals on eight shots before being replaced by Carter Hart with 2:00 remaining in the first period. Hart made 14 saves.
Skinner scored at 1:29 of the first period to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead.
Ristolainen tied it 1-1 at 11:18 from the top of the right circle, and Giroux put the Flyers ahead 2-1 at 12:44 when he deflected Ivan Provorov's point shot.
Thompson tied it 2-2 on the power play from the left face-off dot at 15:33. The Flyers challenged for offside but the call on the ice was upheld after video review and Philadelphia was assessed a delay of game penalty.
Thompson scored 24 seconds into the power play to make it 3-2 at 15:57.
"We score what seemed like an early goal and then all of a sudden we fall down 2-1," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "But our bench, I loved the talk on the bench at that point. They were a little ticked off and wanted more. And they got more. It was nice to see that. We get an early goal. We really blow it, fall down 2-1, and they responded well."

Krebs scored his first NHL goal, deflecting a one-timer from Henri Jokiharju to make it 4-2 at 18:00.
"I think that definitely gives you a little boost, for sure," Krebs said after his 20th NHL game. "That's exciting. I dream of that as a kid and I want to go do it again and again. So, yeah, that was kind of just my mentality."
Krebs extended the lead to 5-2 at 2:24 of the second period with a backhand on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box.
"He's one of the smartest hockey players I've seen," Thompson said. "He sees the game really well, so I think everyone's excited for him and that his hard work has paid off."
Skinner made it 6-2 at 4:36 of the third period, scoring on a one-timer from the right circle on the power play. Giroux deflected Travis Konecny's shot to cut it to 6-3 at 14:49 with a power-play goal.
"Right from the drop of the puck, we certainly didn't have the battle level that we need," Flyers coach Mike Yeo said. "The focus as far as defending, giving up, I don't want to say easy chances, but certainly not preventing opportunities against that are very preventable. So we weren't ready to go, obviously. And that falls on me. But for whatever reason we weren't prepared to play the game the correct way. So again, it's disappointing."
NOTES: Flyers defenseman Keith Yandle played in his 963rd consecutive game, one from tying Doug Jarvis for the most in NHL history. … The Sabres scored four goals in the first period for the first time since Dec. 2, 2019, when they scored five in a 7-1 win against the New Jersey Devils. … It was the first time three Buffalo players scored at least two goals in the same game since March 19, 2008, when Thomas Vanek (three), Jochen Hecht (two) and Jason Pominville (two) did so in a 7-4 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. … Ristolainen scored 245 points (46 goals, 199 assists) in 542 games with the Sabres in eight seasons from 2013-21. … Philadelphia forward Wade Allison left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury. Yeo did not have an update. ... Krebs played his first 13 NHL games, nine this season, for the Vegas Golden Knights, who traded him to Buffalo as part of the Jack Eichel deal on Nov. 4.