Umberger Snaps 50-game Scoreless Drought, Flyers Beat Sabres
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — R.J. Umberger snapped a 50-game scoreless drought and Wayne Simmonds got his 20th goal of the season to help the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 on Thursday night to end a three-game skid.
Brayden Schenn, Michael Raffl and Nick Cousins also scored for Philadelphia, which scored four goals during a dominant second period.
Philadelphia needs every point it can get to stay in the playoff race — the Flyers began play five points out of a postseason spot and behind five teams.
Jamie McGinn scored for Buffalo, and the Sabres lost their fourth in a row while wrapping up a three-game season series against the Flyers with their first loss.
Steve Mason had 41 saves while making his sixth straight start for Philadelphia.
Shayne Gostisbehere had an assist, giving him points in 10 straight games for Philadelphia. That ties Mikael Renberg's Flyers rookie record from 1993-94 and is also the longest current streak in the NHL.
Umberger put the Flyers on the board 1:23 into the second period. He took a nice feed from Sam Gagner and beat Robin Lehner over the right pad for his first goal since Jan. 27, 2015. He had been a healthy scratch the last five games but replaced Matt Read in coach Dave Hakstol's lineup after Philadelphia's lackluster performance in a 4-1 home loss Tuesday night to Anaheim.
After scoring, Umberger thrust both arms in the air and looked skyward before being mobbed by teammates. He then blessed himself and let out a huge smile while being congratulated along the Flyers bench.
Umberger's goal opened the floodgates. Schenn followed 48 seconds later with his 15th of the season on a one-timer from close range. Simmonds then got his 10th goal in the last 13 games while reaching 20 goals for the third straight season with a wrist shot that beat Lehner on the short side. Raffl finished the second-period barrage when he shot over Lehner's glove on a breakaway with 4:03 left, with Cousins earning his second career point with an assist.
Buffalo allowed four goals to open the game for the second straight game after doing it in a 7-4 home defeat to Florida on Tuesday night.
McGinn scored on a rebound midway through the third period. Cousins answered with his first career goal 29 seconds later, getting ahead of the defense and firing a slap shot through Lehner's five-hole.
Philadelphia's Radko Gudas was involved in two fights. The second came with 3:33 left in the game after Buffalo's Jake McCabe retaliated following Gudas' hard check of Daniel Catenacci, who had his head down when he was leveled at center ice.
Lehner stopped 23 of 28 shots.
Notes: RW Justin Bailey made his NHL debut for the Sabres. The 2013 second-round pick had 10 goals and 23 points in 47 games with Rochester in the AHL. ... The Sabres' last season sweep of Philadelphia came in 2001-02 when they went 4-0. ... Buffalo C Ryan O'Reilly leads the Sabres with 17 goals but has gone 14 straight games without a goal. ... Buffalo beat the Flyers 4-3 in overtime on Oct. 27 and 3-1 on Oct. 30. ... Buffalo went 0 for 6 on the power play.
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