The Buffalo Sabres fell 3-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.
Philadelphia’s two first-period goals proved to be too much for Buffalo to overcome. Flyers rookie Cole Knuble – in just his second career NHL game – stole the show, scoring his first and second career goals en route to Philadelphia’s third consecutive victory.
Knuble opened the scoring at 14:49 of the first period, before Trevor Zegras batted in an initial Matvei Michkov shot on the power play with under a minute left on the clock to make it 2-0 heading into the break.
Jason Zucker, making his season debut after missing the first nine games rehabbing from sports hernia surgery, scored the Sabres’ lone goal with 35 seconds left in the second period. Zucker cut the deficit to 2-1 by taking prime real estate at the net front on the power play and deflecting in the rebound of a Jack Quinn shot.
The Flyers restored their two-goal lead early in the third period, as Knuble converted for his second goal of the game 3:03 into the final frame.
Philadelphia goaltender Dan Vladar was a big reason the Sabres failed to mount a comeback, finishing with 27 saves, including a pair of stellar stops during Buffalo’s late 6-on-5 push. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 23 saves in the defeat.
