Sharpen Up: March 30, 2021 | Sabres look ahead after OT loss to Flyers

Heading into the third period last night, the Buffalo Sabres were ahead 3-0 and it looked like their 17-game winless streak might finally come to an end.
But the Philadelphia Flyers put together a strong 20 minutes and scored three times to force overtime. Then 42 seconds into overtime, Ivan Provorov scored to hand Buffalo its 18th-straight defeat. Buffalo is 0-15-3 over that stretch,
The Sabres will play the Flyers again at KeyBank Center tomorrow night. Faceoff is at 7:30 p.m. on NBCSN and WGR 550.
Here's what you need to know.

A look back at last night

Buffalo looked to be in the driver's seat for the first 40 minutes thanks to goals from Henri Jokiharju, Cody Eakin and Brandon Montour.
"We owned them the first two periods," Montour said. "Why can't we finish them?"

The Flyers pushed the tempo early in the third period and Kevin Hayes capitalized 1:50 into the period to make it 3-1. Then midway through the period, with 9:09 left, Claude Giroux scored to put Philadelphia within one. The comeback was completed with the extra attacker when Sean Couturier tied things up with 1:29 remaining.
Buffalo had missed an empty net just seconds before Couturier's goal.
Linus Ullmark finished the game with 32 saves. Brian Elliott made 29 stops and improved to 4-0-0 against Buffalo this season with a .951 save percentage and a 1.40 goals-against average. In his career against the Sabres, Elliott is now 17-2-2 with a .941 save % and a 1.74 GAA.

"We have to continue to push forward," Sabres interim coach Don Granato said. "When I spoke to the team a week ago, I said, 'In one week, we'll be a better team … than we are today.' I said that at that time and we are a better team than we were one week ago. Our players feel it, they sense it, they know it."

The winless streak is now tied for the 14th-longest in NHL history and tied for the longest in the NHL since 2003-04. The team has not won since February 23, but the Sabres can only concern themselves with what's ahead of them.
"All you can take from this game is, did this experience make you better?" Sabres interim coach Don Granato said. "So, now it's our job to make certain that happens. Because we went through it."
Read the full recap here.

Cozens leave game with injury

Rookie Dylan Cozens exited the game with 8:09 remaining in the first period after taking a hit into the boards from Philippe Myers.
Granato was asked if the rookie could be out "a while" after exiting early.
"I hope not," he said. "I don't have a report on it from a side of severity. … Upper-body injury and there's a range of timetables for that. So, I hope not."
The coach said he expects further evaluations in the morning.

What's next

Buffalo is set to return to practice today. We'll have full coverage for you here on Sabres.com, our social media channels and the new Sabres app.