The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 at KeyBank Center on Wednesday, powered by a two-goal performance from Cole Knuble.
Philadelphia opened the scoring at 14:49 of the first period when Knuble netted his first goal of the season on a backhand shot, assisted by Oliver Bonk and Denver Barkey. The Flyers doubled their advantage in the final minute of the opening frame as Trevor Zegras batted the puck into the net for a power-play goal at 19:17, with assists credited to Matvei Michkov and Jamie Drysdale.
Buffalo answered late in the second period on the man advantage. Jason Zucker recorded his first goal of the season at 19:25 by deflecting a shot past the goaltender off passes from Jack Quinn and Noah Ostlund, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Knuble restored Philadelphia's two-goal cushion at 3:03 of the third period, beating the goalie with a wrist shot off an assist from Bonk.
Dan Vladar made 27 saves on 28 shots to earn the victory for the Flyers. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 23 of 26 shots in the loss for Buffalo. Philadelphia converted 1 of 5 power-play opportunities, while the Sabres scored on 1 of their 3 chances with the man advantage.
The result extended Philadelphia's winning streak to three straight games and moved their record to 3-6-3 on the season. Buffalo fell to 4-4-2 while extending its winless skid to two games (0-1-1).
Both teams return to the ice on Saturday, October 24. The Flyers host the Anaheim Ducks at 1:00 PM ET, while the Sabres visit the Washington Capitals at 7:00 PM ET.
