Flyers extend Sabres skid to eight with shootout victory

Shayne Gostisbehere scored in the third period, and the Philadelphia Flyers extended the Buffalo Sabres' losing streak to eight with a 5-4 shootout win at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Gostisbehere tied it 4-4 on the power play with a shot from the point at 14:14.
"It was good for us to break through there, tie the game up," Gostisbehere said. "But I think it was more important for our team to tie the game up, come back. We didn't have the best game out there, but good teams find a way to win."
Sean Couturier and Joel Farabee each had two assists for the Flyers (13-7-3). Carter Hart allowed three goals on eight shots and was replaced to start the second period by Brian Elliott, who made 11 saves.
"I replaced him because I didn't think he had been good enough, so I said to him 'Moose' (Elliott) was going in," Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. "At the end of the day, it's the toughest position in hockey. Carter is a very young goaltender (22 years old). We all believe in him. We all think that he's got a tremendous amount of potential. But it's a tough position. He's going to learn from this, he's going to get better.
"I believe he's got to battle a little bit harder in goal at this time. And I'm confident that he'll work with [goalie coach] Kim [Dillabaugh] and try and get his game to where it needs to be so that our team can have a chance in every game."
Couturier and Nolan Patrick scored in the shootout for Philadelphia.
Sam Reinhart scored twice, and Taylor Hall had two assists for the Sabres (6-14-4), who have lost eight in a row (0-6-2). Jonas Johansson made 29 saves.
Buffalo played without center Jack Eichel (upper body). He missed games Feb. 25 and 27 with a lower-body injury.
"Jack went back to Buffalo early," Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said. "Still being assessed. He'll be out minimum a week."
James van Riemsdyk scored off a pass from Farabee in the high slot to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 1:56 of the first period.
Reinhart tied it 1-1 at 4:33 from the left face-off dot, ending the Sabres' goal drought against the Flyers at 185:44. Philadelphia shut out Buffalo 3-0 on Jan. 19, 3-0 on Feb. 27 and 3-0 on Feb. 28.
Riley Sheahan put the Sabres ahead 2-1 at 9:39 with a backhand in front of the net. Reinhart scored from the edge of the right circle to extend the lead to 3-1 at 16:39.
"We were moving our feet," Reinhart said. "We were supporting each other coming out of our end and through the neutral zone, and it led to some good opportunities."

Kevin Hayes got behind Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin to the left of the crease to bring Philadelphia within 3-2 at 2:58 of the second period.
Brandon Montour made it 4-2 when his shot from the left circle deflected off Gostisbehere's stick and Elliott's shoulder at 6:20.
Claude Giroux cut it to 4-3 at 15:05 when he outmuscled Henri Jokiharju at the crease five seconds after a Flyers power play expired.
"I think, probably, in our last 10 power plays, I feel like we've been right there," Farabee said. "Things are moving in the right direction for our power play. Pucks are getting to the net, we're creating chances. That's all you can do. It was really nice to get that tying one tonight and hopefully we build some momentum off that."

It was the first time in seven games Buffalo scored more than two goals.
"I think early in the season we were outshooting teams and I think controlling the play a lot more than we are right now," Hall said. "We have to find a way to play confidently with the lead and not sit back and take penalties and allow them to get momentum, because they're playing in front of fans now.
"They're a good team, they have a lot of offensive weapons. … I mean, let's be serious, we're a lot of points out of the playoffs, we should just be playing loose and just playing free."
NOTES: Buffalo has been outscored 32-15 in the streak. … The Sabres killed 16 straight penalties before Gostisbehere's power-play goal. … Couturier has scored 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. … The Flyers have not lost more than two games in a row this season.