Sabres fall to Flyers in OT, record skid hits 18

BUFFALO --The Buffalo Sabres allowed four unanswered goals after the second period, including one by Ivan Provorov 42 seconds into overtime, and lost an 18th straight game, 4-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center on Monday.

The Sabres are 0-15-3 since Feb. 23 and extended the NHL shootout-era record for the longest stretch without a victory. The shootout was implemented in the 2005-06 season, eliminating ties.
"Not really any words, to be honest," Sabres defenseman Brandon Montour said. "You go through a stretch like this, you can blame the system, blame coaches, blame other lines, you blame all those things, but I think in the end, you've got to be an NHL player. You go up 3-0 like that, especially as desperate as we are to just get two points, it's embarrassing.
"I know this whole stretch is embarrassing, but especially tonight, any team in the NHL, I don't care who you are, that's a win. Tough bounces, sure, here or there. … But the third period, you've just got to be desperate, and guys, I don't know if they try to feel sorry for each other, or, like, you just have to find a way there. That's unacceptable."
Provorov finished a 2-on-1 with Travis Konecny.
The Flyers forced overtime when Sean Couturier tied it 3-3 with 1:29 left in the third period and Brian Elliott pulled for the extra attacker.
"Honestly, I'm not sure why it keeps happening where we fall behind early, don't have a good start and only start playing when we're behind," said Provorov, who also had an assist. "I don't know, I guess maybe coming for the next game, coming out we should think that we're down 3-0 and maybe then we'll have a good start."

The Flyers have allowed the first goal in five of their past six games.
Henri Jokiharju, Cody Eakin and Montour scored, and Linus Ullmark made 32 saves for Buffalo (6-23-5).
"If you keep hanging onto the negative, the negative will keep coming up," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "But we know we're going to be dragged into everything in the past as this as an accumulation … but we can't allow that to happen. We've got to worry about the next game in front of us, the next shift, the next play, the next opportunity."
Claude Giroux and Couturier each had a goal and an assist, and Elliott made 29 saves for Philadelphia (17-13-4).
"I truly believe that every player that puts on this uniform works as hard as he can," Flyers center Kevin Hayes said. "It's an honor to play in this league and play for this organization. When things aren't going your way, you've got to stick to your work ethic, and I thought today we had a chance to kind of go into a little shell and start blaming others, and that's the opposite of what we did. And ultimately it came down to hard work, and we came out on top."
The teams will finish the two-game set here Wednesday.
Jokiharju was open in the right face-off circle when he took a pass from Curtis Lazar and beat Elliott five-hole at 17:41 of the first period to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead.
Eakin made 2-0 at 2:10 of the second with a quick shot from the right circle. Montour scored from the slot to extend the lead to 3-0 at 12:43.
"I don't think we took them lightly, but we weren't ... it's very frustrating right now," said Giroux, the Flyers captain. "We need to figure it out. We need to get together as a group and get our things in order here because [there are] not a lot of games left and we can't be shooting ourselves in the foot like that."

Hayes cut it to 3-1 on a one-timer from the right hash marks at 1:50 of the third. Giroux brought the Flyers within 3-2 when he scored at the side of the net at 10:51.
"Guys are trying to keep each other positive and bump each other up," Montour said. "Our focus is you have one good shift, you want to follow it up for that next line. That's what we're trying to do.
"You let up a goal, you've just got to refocus and get back at it. We owned them the first two periods. Why can't we finish them? We just got to be better."
NOTES: Sabres center Dylan Cozens left the game with an upper-body injury at 11:51 of the first period after taking a hit along the boards from Flyers defenseman Philippe Myers. Granato did not have an update. … Philadelphia defenseman Justin Braun played his 700th NHL game. … Elliott is 17-2-2 against Buffalo in his NHL career. … Flyers goalie Carter Hart was scratched and will also sit out Wednesday so he can focus more on practice. … The Winnipeg Jets hold the NHL record for most consecutive games without a win; they played 30 straight without a victory (0-23 with seven ties) from Oct. 19-Dec. 20, 1980.