Sabres score four in first, top Flyers for seventh straight win

BUFFALO -- The Buffalo Sabres scored four goals in the first period and won their seventh straight game, 5-2 against the Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.

It is Buffalo's longest winning streak since 2006-07, when it started the season with 10 straight victories.
"We talk about just being even-keeled, not being too high, not being too low, because there's going to be parts of the game we're not going to be able to control," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "So how do we react to that adversity? Certainly, the belief, this group is getting tighter and tighter every game through this winning streak."
WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Sabres highlights]
Jeff Skinner scored his 14th goal in 15 games, and Carter Hutton made 23 saves for the Sabres (14-6-2).
Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Flyers (9-10-2), who have lost four straight.
Alex Lyon
was relieved by Calvin Pickard to begin the second period after he allowed four goals on 12 shots in the first in his first NHL game this season. Pickard made eight saves.
"I feel bad for him. We let him down, the whole team," defenseman Christian Folin said of Lyon. "You shouldn't do that to your goaltender. It's frustrating. He's such a good goalie and such a great guy that we want him to play well. He's playing well, but we're putting him in [lousy] situations."
Skinner gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead 3:38 into the game when the rebound of a Jason Pominville shot bounced out to him in the slot.

Tage Thompson scored his second of the season to make it 2-0, slipping around defenseman Radko Gudas to beat Lyon in close at 5:20. He scored his first goal in a 5-4 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday.
Evan Rodrigues picked up the rebound of Rasmus Dahlin's shot in the low slot to extend Buffalo's lead to 3-0 at 8:55 on the power play.
"We didn't do enough in the first 10 minutes, we weren't quick enough with the puck, we weren't quick enough to pucks, and we didn't win enough battles," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said.
Johan Larsson scored with a shot from the left face-off circle to make it 4-0 with eight seconds left in the period.

"It's good to see the way we came out," Sabres captain Jack Eichel said. "I think it's good, for one, that we're learning. It's progress from the last few games of not starting the way we wanted. Full 60 minutes is what we're looking for. I thought we played the majority of the game we wanted to."
Giroux scored to get the Flyers to within 4-1 at 5:26 of the second period, and Simmonds cut it to 4-2 at 13:51 when he beat Hutton five-hole from the top of the crease.
"That's a long way to climb out," Hakstol said. "We got a couple in the second period and had some good chances in the third to make it a one-goal game, but usually when you get behind by four, that's a pretty tough one to dig out of in somebody else's building."
Sam Reinhart scored an empty-net goal with 1:38 remaining for the 5-2 final score.

They said it

"It's unacceptable. I'm pretty [ticked] off. We've got two big games coming up here." -- Flyers captain Claude Giroux on the start against the Sabres

"That was a really cool feeling, even after that first shift where I think [Jeff Skinner] almost poked one home, the crowd was into it right away. That's always fun to be a part of, I think it jump-started, got us going. … Good way to come out hot. I think a lot of that goes to the fans and the energy they brought." -- Sabres forward Tage Thompson

Need to know

Scott Laughton's fight against Larsson at 19:55 of the first period was the first for the Flyers this season. The Arizona Coyotes are the only team in the NHL without a fighting major. ... Philadelphia came back from down four goals in the third period against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday but lost 6-5 in overtime. ... Hutton extended his personal winning streak to an NHL career-high six games. He has a 1.99 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in those games.

What's next

Flyers: Host the New York Rangers on Friday (1 p.m. ET; NBC)
Sabres: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Friday (4 p.m. ET; MSG-B, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)