20210411 Final Horn at PHI Ruotsalainen

The Buffalo Sabres came from behind to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.
Jeff Skinner tied the game with 3:03 left and Rasmus Asplund potted a rebound for the game-winning goal with 2:38 remaining on the clock.
Arttu Ruotsalainen scored his first NHL goal and Sam Reinhart and Casey Mittelstadt also scored. Linus Ullmark made 40 saves to earn his ninth win of the season.
Buffalo's first two goals came within 46 seconds. Then the game-tying and game-winning goals were scored within 25 seconds.
Oskar Lindblom, Joel Farabee and Shayne Gostisbehere scored for Philadelphia to give the team a 3-1 lead early in the third period. Carter Hart stopped 26 of the 30 shots he faced.
Buffalo wraps up the season series against Philadelphia 3-3-2.

What happened

Philadelphia opened the scoring with 8:24 left in the first period. The Flyers broke unto the zone and Lindblom's cross-ice attempt from the left wing ended up deflecting off Ullmark's skate and in over the goal line.
The Flyers went up 2-0 with a power-play goal. Farabee was able to track down a rebound in front and after put it in after a second effort of his own with 5:46 remaining in the first.
A pair of goals in the second period for the Sabres evened the score.
Buffalo got on the board quickly off a draw in the Flyers end 3:56 into the second period. Skinner won the faceoff to Hart's right and pushed the puck over to Reinhart right away, who was able to pot his team-leading 14 th goal of the season.
Ruotsalainen tied things up with his first NHL goal 46 seconds later. Dylan Cozens circled in the Flyers zone and set up Ruotsalainen for a one-timer from the right faceoff circle.
Philadelphia reclaimed the lead at the 3:47 mark of the third period when Gostisbehere wristed in a shot from the slot.
With 3:03 left in regulation, the Sabres crashed the net after a faceoff and Skinner was credited with the game-tying goal. Buffalo capitalized on a tired Flyers unit who had iced the puck moments before.
Asplund scored to take the lead 25 seconds later, backhanding in a rebound off a Jacob Bryson point shot.
Mittelstadt added an empty-net goal with 23.2 seconds left. He now has four goals in his last five games and five goals in his last seven.

Roll the highlight film

Let's put a spotlight on Ruotsalainen's first NHL goal:

Worth mentioning

-Cozens returned to the lineup after missing six games with an upper-body injury. He skated 15:00, set up Ruotsalainen's goal and helped jump start the team towards the end of the game with his tenacious play.
-Eleven of Reinhart's 14 goals this season have been scored on the road.
-With an assist on Mittelstadt's goals, Kyle Okposo has 10 points (2+8) in his last 11 games.

-Pending unrestricted free agent Taylor Hall was a healthy scratch for the fourth game in a row. The NHL Trade Deadline is tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Coming up

Buffalo's first game after the deadline will be Tuesday in Boston. Faceoff from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550. Pregame coverage on MSG will begin ay 6:30 p.m.