Sabres look back on missed opportunities in road loss to Flyers

PHILADELPHIA - The chances were there, but the Buffalo Sabres were unable to extend their point streak to five games on Thursday in a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center.
Robin Lehner was once again solid in net for the Sabres, making 25 saves. He has stopped 174 of the 186 shots he's faced (for a .935 save percentage) in his last five games.

"It wasn't a matter of us not getting the chances - we had some great looks," coach Phil Housley said. "We had open nets. We didn't finish. That's part of the execution. It's unfortunate because we've built something here in the last four games. I thought we could've taken another step tonight against a good hockey team, but we didn't execute."
Buffalo entered the game with a 2-0-2 record over their last five games including four points over their last three road games. That came after a 1-9-2 stretch.
Alternate captain Ryan O'Reilly, who scored Buffalo's lone goal, said that consistency has been an issue.
"We haven't been consistent all year and it's tough," he said. "Lehnny played a great game and made some huge saves for us and we have to be better in front of him - I have to be better in front of him - and find a way to settle things down in that second period and just get back to simple, little things."
Buffalo opened the scoring, but their lead did not last long. When Brian Elliott tried to shoot the puck around the boards behind his own net, he hit Zemgus Girgensons with it and the puck made its way to O'Reilly in front of the net. O'Reilly buried it into the empty net for his eighth goal of the year.

But 2:33 later, and just after Sam Reinhart missed a wraparound chance for Buffalo, Flyers rookie defenseman Travis Sanheim tied the game with his first career goal. Unguarded in the slot, he one-timed a shot top shelf over Lehner, who said that he slipped during the sequence and lost his footing.
"We could've had a two-goal lead right after we got the first goal," Housley said. "We could've had a two-goal lead and then it puts a little bit more pressure on them. We let them back into the game and that was the difference."
Philadelphia took the lead with 2:33 remaining in the second period on a goal from Valtteri Filppula. The Flyers outshot the Sabres 14-6 in that period.
Perhaps Buffalo's best chance in the second was a shorthanded chance by Evander Kane early on. Kane was stopped on the doorstep early in the third period on what ended up being a great post-to-post save by Elliott. The Flyers then tightened up their game and held on for the win.

Buffalo finished the night with 20 shots on goal.
"I thought we had our chances. I think a lot of it probably rides on us. I don't think that our execution was where it should be," alternate captain Jack Eichel said. "We let them off the hook a few times where we had cycles and long shifts in our end. It's a tough one. We thought we could've come in here and gotten two points and you don't get anything. There was some good and then obviously there's some stuff we want to clean up."
Buffalo returns home for a game Friday night against the Carolina Hurricanes at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550 with the GMC Game Night pregame show starting at 6:30 on MSG.
"We've got to go back and win tomorrow," Lehner said. "It's been a better stretch mentally for us and we want to get right back to that."