National Hockey League
Buffalo 3, Philadelphia 1
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, October 30, 2015
Where: First Niagara Center, Buffalo, New York
Referees: Tim Peel, Kevin Pollock
Linesmen: Scott Driscoll, Bryan Pancich
Attendance: 15962

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres rode Ryan O'Reilly to a runaway victory.

O'Reilly had a goal and two assists to lead the Sabres in a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night.

The top-line center, acquired in an offseason trade with Colorado, matched his career high with three points and extended his points streak to five games, during which he has recorded three goals and seven assists. He also won 20 of 36 face-offs and helped the Sabres kill a couple of penalties in the third period.

"I may have rode him a little hard tonight with the way I played him 26-plus minutes," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "But he was the best player on the ice in pretty much every situation tonight."

With the Sabres (4-7) having lost three of their last four games coming into Friday, O'Reilly was happy that his production finally contributed to a victory.

"It's more about looking at the results, and we don't have the wins we want," O'Reilly said. "There have been a lot of tight games, so I'm kind of just taking it game by game and trying to do whatever I can to help win right now."

Jack Eichel, Buffalo's 18-year-old center, scored his fourth goal of the season, matching O'Reilly for the team lead. Left winger Nicolas Deslauriers also scored for the Sabres (4-7).

Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark made 27 saves in his second career start. At 22, Ullmark is the youngest goalie to earn a win for the Sabres since 21-year-old Mika Noronen in 2000.

Buffalo out-shot its opponent for the ninth time in 11 games after doing so in just 10 games all of last season.

Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth, a former Sabre, made 33 saves in his return after missing the past two games with an upper-body injury.

Defenseman Mark Streit had the lone goal for the Flyers (4-4-2), who opened a five-game road stretch with their third straight loss.

"It was a rough game," Streit said. "We didn't play our game. We wanted to respond from last night, but obviously didn't do it."

"We just got outplayed," Flyers right winger Jakub Voracek said. "We have to play better. Starting from the first line to the fourth line, let's be honest, we didn't deserve to win the game."

The Sabres scored just one power-play goal on six chances, but spending more than seven minutes on the penalty kill through the first two periods fatigued the Flyers in the second game in as many nights.

"We spent too much time in the box," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "We spent all our energy killing penalties off."

Eichel put the Sabres up 1-0 with 35.4 seconds left in the first period. Taking a pass from O'Reilly along the left wall, Eichel maneuvered around Flyers defenseman Evgeni Medvedev, glided over to the right slot and fired a wrist shot back toward the left side of the goal.

"With the puck on his stick, there's a little bit different electricity in the air," Bylsma said. "It was almost a crescendo as he made the move to the middle of the ice."

The Sabres, who entered Friday ranked second in the NHL with 33.6 shots on goal per game, outshot the Flyers 15-7 in the first period.

Buffalo bettered that with 16 second-period shots and took a 2-0 lead on O'Reilly's power-play goal 4:20 into the period. O'Reilly's slap shot from the left circle came off a pass from right winger Brian Gionta with center Zemgus Girgensons screening in front.

O'Reilly set up Deslauriers for a one-timer in front of the net that gave the Sabres a 3-0 lead 3:12 into the third period. The goal came 10 seconds after the Sabres killed off a two-minute penalty on Deslauriers for charging.

Streit ended Ullmark's shutout bid with 3:26 remaining in the game. Center R.J. Umberger and right winger Sam Gagner assisted on Streit's goal, his third of the season.

Sabres defenseman Josh Gorges received a five-minute major and game misconduct penalty for boarding Flyers forward Matt Read in the back with 43 seconds left in the game.

NOTES: Flyers C Sean Couturier sat out his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury that many believe to be a concussion. LW Pierre-Edouard Bellemare missed the game due to a lower-body injury. ... Sabres RW Tyler Ennis missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. ... D Mike Weber was a healthy scratch for Buffalo, while D Brandon Manning was a healthy scratch for Philadelphia. ... This was the teams' second meeting in four days. The Sabres won 4-3 in overtime Tuesday in Philadelphia. The next meeting is Feb. 11 in Philadelphia.
Top Game Performances
 
Philadelphia   Buffalo
Mark Streit 1 Points Ryan O'Reilly 3
Mark Streit 1 Goals Ryan O'Reilly 1
Sam Gagner 1 Assists Ryan O'Reilly 2
N/A Power Play Goals Ryan O'Reilly 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Michal Neuvirth .917 Save Percentage Linus Ullmark .964
Michal Neuvirth 33 Saves Linus Ullmark 27
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Philadelphia 28 1 0-4 5-6 31 33
Buffalo 36 3 1-6 4-4 30 36
Upcoming Games
  • Buffalo will play their next game on the road against NY Islanders. The Sabres have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .500 after a loss.
  • Philadelphia will play their next game on the road against Vancouver. The Flyers have a W/L % of .500 after a win and .333 after a loss.