The Buffalo Sabers were furious at Saturday’s first break and they certainly equalized.
In a 2-0 hole after a sloppy 20-minute opening, the Sabers roared back and scored four goals in a dominant second period. They beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 at the KeyBank Center and celebrated their second win in their last three games.
Buffalo (28-38-11) had power-play goals from Kyle Okposo and Tage Thompson and evenly strong goals from Rasmus Dahlin and Vinnie Hinostroza in the frame to equal their season-high in a period. They beat Philadelphia 18:3 and left the ice to great applause from the 11,046 spectators.
The Sabers also had a four-goal first half here on Jan. 22 in their 6-3 win over the Flyers. The last time they had two quarters with at least four goals against one team in the same season was against Carolina in 2009–10.
The Flyers have lost nine of their last 11 and a second period in which they were overtaken by Buffalo 18-3 pretty much showed their warts after leading by two goals in the first four minutes.
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Rasmus Dahlin was cheered after absorbing a hard hit from Travis Konecny into the boards and receiving a retaliatory penalty. Alex Tuch and Philly defense attorney Travis Sanheim have been nailed for accidental minors. Chirps were all over the ice and Kyle Okposo was buried in the knee by a slapshot from Tage Thompson and couldn’t finish the period.
“We weren’t. I wasn’t happy,” Okposo said. “I was steaming inside and pretty pumped up. And if I hadn’t taken that shot, I might have lost my marbles a bit after the first one, but it was just great to see all kinds of bands together and not use that energy for negativity.”
That was essentially coach Don Granato’s short message: Don’t revenge. play better
“By the end of the first period we were emotional and frustrated,” admitted Dahlin. “So Don talked a lot about us coming back and not having to be emotional. We used our emotions to our advantage and we did that.”
Okposo opened the scoring for the Sabers by beating home a Peyton Krebs feed for his 20th of the season at 3:17. Dahlin conceded No. 11 from a Jeff Skinner cross ice pass at 8:27 to tie the game. Konecny knocked Craig Anderson high under the bar with a soft goal at 14:27, but Buffalo prevailed. Vinnie Hinostroza hit a rebound at 3:36 p.m. and Thompson scored at 5:58 p.m. in 34th place to set the tie.
Okposo celebrated his 34th birthday by scoring 20 goals for the first time since 2015-16 with the New York Islanders. He had combined just 11 over the past two seasons.
“It sure is a nice number. It’s my first time doing this in Buffalo,” Okposo said. “It’s been a fun year to see this group grow and feel like I was a part of it. And the feeling of being a part of it. And it was just a lot of fun playing with these guys. Donnie walked in and allowed me to just play freely and use the skills that got me here and have used my entire career. And yes, definitely a nice feather in the cap.
“It’s huge. He’s a leader. He came back,” Dahlin said. “He almost couldn’t move, so a huge game for him. And we’re all very happy for him. He is a role model for us.”
Granato said he kept his break talk short, took a step back and watched his team get to work.
“They took over together and they were extremely responsible individually,” said Granato. “We’ve had guys who even attacked each other a little bit on the bench but in a way you would as your brother. They tackle it, and then they’re out there on the next shift, and they’re actually five times better than you were the last shift. Because they push each other in the right way. And it’s fun to watch.”
Here are some other observations about the game:
Rookie Owen Power continues to impress on Buffalo’s blueline. In his third game, he had an even rating over 22 minutes, 59 seconds of ice time, a team-high, with 4:18 of that on penalties and time also spent at the end of the game when the Flyers went 6-5. He had no shots on target and fanned out a good setup from Thompson on a brief chance in the third period.
“I can’t mention Owen without mentioning (Henri) Jokiharju, without mentioning Dahlin, without mentioning (Mattias) Samuelsson,” Granato said. “…We’ve come to a point in our season where the boys have come together as a team and they support each other very well. So to use a talented player like Owen there’s a lot of support there. That gives me peace of mind, putting him in all these situations.”
Granato walked with the newly shuffled forward lines he unveiled in Friday’s practice and there were plenty of moments when the puck narrowly missed in the first half before the groupings made their way into the second. Skinner and Thompson stayed together and were joined by Victor Olofsson on the front line. Casey Mittelstadt centered Krebs und Tuch, Dylan Cozens was between Okposo and Rasmus Asplund, and Zemgus Girgensons played with Anders Bjork and Hinostroza.
• The Sabers have won four straight games against the Flyers for the first time since they won five straight games from Oct. 10, 2001 to Oct. 20, 2001. December 2002. They have their first six-game point streak against Philly (4-0-2) since the 5-0-1 from December 7, 1989 to March 24, 1991.
• Anderson improved to 16-12-2 with 18 saves this season and won his 307th game of his career. He is one behind retired Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask at No. 33 on the all-time list.
• Former Sabers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body) was one of several key Flyers to miss the game through injury.
• The biggest celebration of the first period was easy. It was when Bill’s quarterback Josh Allen was put on the jumbotron and then the fans sang the “Shout” song.
The teams headed to Philadelphia after the game and will meet again Sunday at 5:00 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center.
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