Jack Quinn scores 2 as Sabres win 4-2, drop Flyers to 0-4-2 in last six games
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Rookie Jack Quinn scored twice, and the Buffalo Sabres beat free-falling Philadelphia 4-2 on Friday night, handing the Flyers their sixth straight loss.
Philadelphia dropped to 0-4-2 in a season-worst skid that has it in jeopardy of slipping out of playoff contention. The Flyers dropped from third in the Metropolitan Division to the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. They are tied with the Islanders with 83 points, but New York has played one fewer game.
The Sabres remain in the hunt with 79 points.
Rasmus Dahlin scored his 19th goal to join Phil Housley as the Sabres' only defensemen to score that many in a season. Tage Thompson had a goal and assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 32 shots to improve to 20-12-1 since taking over the starting duties in late December.
Owen Tippett had a goal and assist and Noah Cates also scored for the Flyers. And Philadelphia failed to get a boost from rookie 27-year-old goalie Ivan Fedotov, who looked shaky in allowing three goals on the first 12 shots he faced in his first career NHL start. He finished with 15 saves, after making his NHL debut as a backup in a 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Monday.
The Flyers are a team in crisis, which even coach John Tortorella acknowledged earlier in the day by saying the team "is taking on water here a little bit," in opening a four-game road trip.
No one was capable of bailing the Flyers out even in an outing they were outshooting the Sabres 23-12 through two periods and 33-19 overall.
Thompson opened the scoring 10:01 in by driving up the right wing and fooling Fedotov by faking into the middle, before depositing the puck into the open side. Dahlin and Quinn scored 4:03 apart in the second period to put Buffalo up 3-1 by beating Fedotov with 35-plus foot snapshots.
Quinn's second goal sealed the win with 6:01 remaining when he converted his own rebound after Fedotov was slow to recover.
The 6-foot-7, 214-pound Fedotov is the Flyers' 2015 seventh-round pick, whose anticipated arrival in Philadelphia in July 2022 was delayed after the goalie was taken by authorities to a remote military base in the Arctic Circle for a year of service. Fedotov then spent this past year playing for CSKA Moscow of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League before the team terminated the second year of contract once it was eliminated from the playoffs last month.
As has become tradition, Fedotov completed what's called a "rookie lap" in taking the ice alone for pre-game warmups before being joined by the rest of his teammates.
The Flyers were without captain Sean Couturier, who is listed day to day with an upper-body injury.
UP NEXT
Flyers: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.
Sabres: At the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.
