With the exception of one power play surrendered that allowed Brayden Schenn to score the Flyers' first goal with their goalie pulled and 2:07 remaining, the Sabres did all of those things this time around. Even after Schenn's goal, they remained composed and got an empty-net goal from Marcus Foligno in the waning seconds of a 4-1 victory.
Anders Nilsson, who was the losing goalie in that first meeting with the Flyers, made 39 saves in the victory.
"I think our team game has been improving a lot since the last time we played them," Nilsson said. "You can't take anything for granted. We knew we had a three-goal lead going into the third, we talked about it in the second intermission and said we can't get back on our heels, just need to push for the next goal and get the puck deep. I think we did a pretty good job of doing that."
With the win, the Sabres have earned seven of eight available points in their last four games. The game proved to be the 60-minute effort they've been looking for on home ice; whereas they needed three third-period goals to beat Winnipeg on Saturday, they competed out of the gate and built their lead in the second period of this game.
The Sabres built that 3-0 lead, in fact, against a team that has scored the second-most second-period goals in the NHL,. Sam Reinhart opened the scoring on the power play, William Carrier added another goal less than four minutes later and Evander Kane scored the third goal with just 8.9 seconds left on the clock prior to the second intermission.
Reinhart said he thought the Flyers had actually been controlling the play early in that period, but a change building's energy led to momentum shift on the ice.
"Going into the second, there was a turning point somewhere in there," Reinhart said. "I think it was the crowd getting us back into it. I think after that it was a different game."
Reinhart admitted recently that his current stretch might be the best of his young career, and he only built on that with another strong performance on Tuesday. It was his pass to Justin Bailey through traffic on a 2-on-1 rush that put the Sabres on the power play in the second period, on which he scored after receiving a slap pass from Rasmus Ristolainen down low.