At the Horn | Sabres 4 - Flyers 2

Jack Quinn tallied a pair of goals, including the game winner, to lead the Buffalo Sabres in a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers inside KeyBank Center on Friday.

The Sabres opened the scoring midway through the opening period with a goal from Tage Thompson and never trailed, despite being outshot 33-19. Rasmus Dahlin also scored for Buffalo while Zach Benson and Alex Tuch each recorded a pair of assists.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 31 saves in his 50th appearance of the season to earn first-star honors in the victory.

Noah Cates and Owen Tippett scored for the Flyers. Ivan Fedotov stopped 15 of 19 shots in his first career NHL start in the opposing net.

With their win, and losses by both Washington and Detroit in regulation on Friday, the Sabres moved within four points of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, which the Flyers currently hold with 83 points.

SCORING SUMMARY

Period 1, 10:01 – Tage Thompson from JJ Peterka and Alex Tuch (1-0, BUF)

The Flyers outshot the Sabres 11-4 in the opening period, but Buffalo went into the locker room with a 1-0 lead on a goal from Thompson midway through the opening period.

Peterka sent a seam pass to Thompson alone in the right circle before Thompson skated in on goal and stickhandled around Fedotov for his 28th goal of the season.

Period 2, 9:07 – Noah Cates from Owen Tippett and Cam York (1-1)

Philadelphia found the scoresheet on its 21st shot of the night at the 9:07 mark of the second period. Cates received a pass from Tippett and wristed a shot from the right faceoff dot that beat Luukkonen on his blocker side.

Period 2, 14:51 – Rasmus Dahlin from Tage Thompson (2-1, BUF)

After Jeff Skinner and Travis Konecny were assessed concurrent cross-checking penalties, the Sabres capitalized on the ensuing 4-on-4. Thompson fed Dahlin, who skated into the high slot and buried a shot above Fedotov’s right shoulder.

Period 2, 19:54 – Jack Quinn from Zach Benson and Owen Power (3-1, BUF)

Buffalo extended its lead just over five minutes later as Quinn recorded his first goal since returning from injury on March 27.

Power sent a pass down ice to Benson to lead the Sabres on the rush with less than 10 seconds to go in the second. Benson found Quinn in the slot for a quick wrist shot into the top right corner of the net with 5.1 seconds remaining on the clock.

Period 3, 9:19 – Owen Tippett from Travis Sanheim and Scott Laughton (3-2, BUF)

Tippett brought the Flyers within one at the 9:19 mark of the third, when he buried a one-timer from the point through traffic.

Period 3, 13:59 – Jack Quinn from Zach Benson and Dylan Cozens (4-2, BUF)

Quinn tallied his second of the night after he blocked a shot by Tippett and led the Sabres down the ice. Benson dropped a pass back to Quinn, who had his first shot stopped by Fedotov, but he put away the rebound to give the Sabres a 4-2 lead with 6:01 to go.

VICTORY SPEECH

POSTGAME COMMENTS

GAME GALLERY

UP NEXT

The Sabres visit Detroit on Sunday for a matchup with the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena.

The game will be exclusively televised on TNT with puck drop scheduled for 1 p.m. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.