Konecny has 3 points, Flyers ease past Sabres for 3rd straight win

PHILADELPHIA -- Travis Konecny had two goals and an assist, and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday for their third straight win.

Konecny has 12 points (six goals, six assists) during a six-game point streak.

"When we're going, it seems to be that he's on his game," Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim said. "I think he understands that, he recognizes that, and he wants to be the guy that is leading the way. He's doing a good job and it's nice to see him have some success."

Sanheim and Egor Zamula each had a goal and an assist, and Tyson Foerster scored for Philadelphia (8-8-2). Ivan Fedotov made 23 saves.

Philadelphia has points in a season-high five straight games (4-0-1).

"The biggest thing is that we're playing in fives," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "Two biggest things that we worked on when we were all disjointed was playing in fives and making sure we see the third guy high all the time because that allowed us to play on our toes, that allowed us to check forward. That's been a lot more consistent in our game."

Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and an assist, and Ryan McLeod scored for Buffalo (8-9-1). Devon Levi made 27 saves.

"Right from the start they created momentum in the beginning, we didn't stop it enough," Dahlin said. "We didn't play hard enough the first few minutes and [took] way too many penalties."

Foerster made it 1-0 at 13:57 of the first period when he scored a power-play goal. It was his first goal in eight games.

Sanheim made it 2-0 at 16:01 on a one-timer from the top of the right circle.

Zamula gave the Flyers a 3-0 lead at 2:08 of the second period when his one-timer from the point went off the stick blade of Sabres forward Zach Benson and bounced under Levi's pads. It was Zamula's first goal in 42 games, dating back to Jan. 21.

Konecny finished a 2-on-0 rush with Matvei Michkov to make it 4-0 at 17:07.

Fedotov ultimately protected the lead, winning his third straight start. After allowing 14 goals across his three losses to open the season (.821 save percentage), he has allowed seven goals over his past three (.918 save percentage).

"I think he certainly feels more comfortable to me," Tortorella said. "He's competitive. He just looks the part. He didn't even look the part his first starts. He looks the part now. He's just got to stay within himself and keep on playing."

Dahlin made it 4-1 with a power-play goal at 10:06 of the third period. The Sabres captain extended his point streak to six games (four goals, four assists).

McLeod made it 4-2 at 18:55 when he jammed in a loose puck at the right post.

"You look at the missed opportunities in the second period," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "If you want to talk about point-blank opportunities, [Owen] Power's grade-A opportunity in the slot turned into a 2-on-0 for them. We had a cross-ice one-timer that [Peyton] Krebs could have put into an empty net to get us back in the game. We had [Sam] Lafferty walk right in through the hash marks and we don't get a shot on net. I'm going to give [the Flyers] credit, they had great sticks. They were good in shot lanes. Their small details were better than ours today."

Konecny closed the scoring with an empty-net goal at 19:42.

NOTES: Flyers defenseman Erik Johnson played in his 1,000th NHL game. ... Michkov had two assists to give him four points (two goals, two assists) during a three-game point streak since being scratched for two games. His five multi-point games are the most among NHL rookies. ... Flyers forward Anthony Richard had two assists to extend his point streak to four games (two goals, four assists). ... Philadelphia defenseman Emil Andrae missed the final 9:21 of the third period because of an undisclosed injury. Tortorella did not have an update after the game. ... The Sabres have scored a power-play goal in six straight games, their longest streak since scoring on the man-advantage in eight straight from Oct. 27-Nov. 10, 2022. ... Buffalo forward JJ Peterka had an assist on McLeod's goal to extend his point streak to six games (three goals, five assists).