Anders Nilsson, Sabres stifle Flyers

BUFFALO -- Sam Reinhart had a goal and two assists, and Anders Nilsson made 39 saves to help the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.
Nilsson started in place of Robin Lehner, who was ill.

"I felt really comfortable today," Nilsson said. "I think we played a pretty good game. We played a solid game defensively. Even though they had 40 shots, they didn't have too many Grade-A scoring chances. I think we did a good job blocking them out and keeping them to the outside lane. Our defensemen made it easier for me to play."
WATCH: All Flyers vs. Sabres highlights
Reinhart gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead 5:15 into the second period with a power-play goal. He received a pass from defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and took a shot from the side of the net that beat Flyers goalie Steve Mason for his ninth goal.
"We know it's a long road to get back to where we want to be," Reinhart said. "We're taking it one game at a time, and tonight was another step in the right direction."

William Carrier made it 2-0 at 8:39 when he scored on a rebound of a shot by defenseman Taylor Fedun that went off Mason's right pad. Carrier returned after missing the past two games with an illness.
Reinhart assisted on Evander Kane's 10th goal with nine seconds left in the second. Reinhart has three goals and nine assists in the past 10 games.

Brayden Schenn scored a power-play goal for the Flyers with 2:07 remaining. Schenn shot a loose puck past Nilsson after a shot by Claude Giroux was blocked. Rookie defenseman Ivan Provorov extended his point streak to three games with an assist.
Marcus Foligno scored into an empty net with four seconds to play.
The Sabres (16-15-9) have won two straight games and three of the past four. The Flyers (21-16-6) have lost two straight and nine of the past 11 since their 10-game winning streak.

"I think we've just got to go back to work and going back to working as a team," Giroux said. "I really believe that we're heading in the right direction here. Before we had the 10-game winning streak we were playing some good hockey but we weren't getting the results. We've got to stay with it. We've got to keep our confidence high and keep battling."
Ryan O'Reilly had two assists and has a goal and five assists in the past three games since returning from an appendectomy that caused him to miss four games.

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Goal of the game

Carrier skated in on the left and roofed the puck after getting control of the rebound off Mason's pads.

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Save of the game

With the score 0-0 3:55 into the second period, Mason made a pad save on Sabres forward Justin Bailey.

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Highlight of the game

Reinhart's goal came on a great shot from a poor angle, with some help from a creative pass by Ristolainen.

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Unsung performance of the game

The Sabres had 19 blocked shots, led by defenseman Jake McCabe, who had four.

They said it

"That was a much more consistent effort. I thought we started a little bit more. We were creating right away. We were just competing right away, and that's what we've got to do a little bit more often. It was nice. We weren't as focused on kind of the Xs and Os and kind of what they were going to do. We just kind of said, 'You know what? Let's go out and play hockey.' That's kind of what we did right away." -- Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly
"Not good hockey. We did it to ourselves. I think we were sloppy and they came with speed off the rush and we've got to do a better job in the second period overall. I think when we go back and look at the tape it was a lot of what we did wrong in the second and not what they did to force us. It was all our own doing." -- Flyers goalie Steve Mason
"Again tonight, good opportunities, and some we executed very well on, and their goaltender made real good saves. There's some where our will to get to the front of the net needs to get better, especially when things aren't happening and going in easily. That's one thing we can do better." --Flyers coach Dave Hakstol

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Need to know

The Flyers reached the 40-shot mark for the third time in the past five games. … Nilsson is 5-1-1 at home with a .947 save percentage and a 1.84 goals-against average.

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What's next

Flyers: Home against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; CSN-PH, SNP, NHL.TV)
Sabres: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, MSG-B, NHL.TV)