Rasmus Dahlin scored a pair of power-play goals to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.
The win propelled the Sabres back into the first wild card spot, breaking a tie in the standings with the Flyers. They sit five points back of the Canadiens – their opponent on Thursday – for third place in the Atlantic Division with two games in hand.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 20 saves, including a sprawling glove stop to rob Nikita Grebenkin on a point-blank one-timer with the game tied 0-0 early in the first period. Dahlin put the Sabres on the board three minutes later.
Mattias Samuelsson, Jack Quinn and Ryan McLeod also scored goals while Tage Thompson and Josh Doan each had a pair of assists.
Buffalo finished the night with 14 shots but had 39 shot attempts, including multiple that hit iron during the first period. Philadelphia starter Dan Vladar allowed two goals on five shots in the first period, then exited the game with an injury. Samuel Ersson stopped six of eight shots in relief.
The Sabres played the third period without forward Josh Norris, who left the game late in the second period due to an upper-body injury.
