The Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday ended their 18-game skid — the NHL’s longest in 17 years — with a resounding 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Rather than squandering a 3-0 third-period lead, like they did during a 4-3 overtime loss to the Flyers on Monday, Buffalo put the game away by scoring the final four goals.
The surge was capped by Brandon Montour, who scored short-handed goals 37 seconds apart, the first into an empty net.
Photo: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY
“It was a tough stretch. You never want to lose, especially the streak we had there. Everybody was talking about it,” the defenseman said. “Tonight, luckily we all played together and got the win.”
The win was Buffalo’s first since a 4-1 victory against the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 23 and ended a 0-15-3 streak.
The slump was tied for the league’s 14th longest, and was the worst since the Pittsburgh Penguins had a 0-17-1 stretch during the 2003-2004 season.
The Sabres also snapped a 0-9-2 home skid, one short of matching a franchise record set during the 1990-1991 season.
The Sabres’ Linus Ullmark stopped 31 shots and was greeted by a long line of teammates, led by Rasmus Dahlin, after the final horn sounded.
Steven Fogarty scored his first career goal and added an assist for the Sabres.
The win was the first under Sabres interim coach Don Granato, who took over after Ralph Krueger was fired on March 17, during a calamitous season likely to end with Buffalo extending their playoff drought to an NHL record-matching 10th consecutive year.
“There’s no question that it was important to put the streak behind [us], so everybody can move on. But we absolutely had to block it out,” Granato said. “They pulled together instead of apart and that showed that they learned.”
Coming off consecutive wins for the first time in a month, the Flyers’ inconsistencies turned up again in dropping to 6-10-1 in their past 17 games. The slump has dropped them into fifth in the East Division.
“No matter what, we’ve got to turn the page,” Sean Couturier said. “Obviously, it’s an embarrassing loss, but we’ve got a big game here coming up against the [New York] Islanders. We’ve got to make sure we’re ready to get the two points.”
Also on Wednesday, it was:
‧ Avalanche 9, Coyotes 3
‧ Kings 4, Golden Knights 2
‧ Sharks 4, Wild 2
‧ Maple Leafs 3, Jets 1
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