Cole Knuble Scores First Two NHL Goals in Flyers Win vs. Sabres

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Cole Knuble scored his first two NHL goals on Wednesday, leading the Philadelphia Flyers (3-6-3) to a 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres (4-4-2) at the KeyBank Center.

Knuble and Trevor Zegras scored for the Flyers. Jason Zucker scored for the Sabres.

The Flyers seemed like the lesser of the two teams after 20 minutes on Wednesday. Buffalo had more power-play chances, controlled the puck in the offensive zone, and fired off more shots than the Flyers. However, right place at the right time was the theme for Philly, who capitalized twice during the first period.

The second period was not as kind to the Flyers. Many of the same sloppy tendencies that haunted the 9-game losing skid came back to haunt Philly. They could not seem to stop the Sabres from creating offense, but Vladar was holding strong. That was, until a power-play goal in the final minute of the second period put the Sabres on the board.

Buffalo continued its strong push in the early minutes of the final period, but a Philadelphia goal flattened the Sabres’ comeback attempt as the Flyers started to close the game out. A late power play for Philly killed even more time, and the Sabres did not have a chance to make a comeback.

Here’s how we got to the final score.

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Cole Knuble’s First NHL Goal Gives Flyers the 1st Period Lead

The Flyers made two swaps ahead of Wednesday’s matchup against the Buffalo Sabres. Tyson Foerster, who missed Monday’s game with an injury, came in for Michael Bunting. Simon Benoit retook his place on the 3rd pair for David Jiricek.

The latter put the Flyers at a disadvantage just 1:56 into the game.

Philly was faced with an early penalty kill following a Benoit tripping call. It took a while for the Sabres to look dangerous, but when they got going, they put the pressure on the Flyers. If it weren’t for Dan Vladar, it could have been a 1-0 game. Instead, the Flyers’ netminder stood on his head and helped lead the way for the kill.

The same could be said for Sabres’ netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the first 1:56, who faced a dominant shift from the Zegras-Dvorak-Acciari line, but denied their looks.

After the penalty kill, the Flyers did not apply anywhere near as much pressure as they did in the first two minutes. In fact, they did not register a shot for the following 10 minutes. At the same time, the Sabres did not have many chances.

The period was ticking away as both teams were struggling to generate offense. That was until a sequence started by a Cole Knuble zone entry led to an Oliver Bonk (3) shot. The puck bounced off the pad of Luukkonen, but Knuble (1) was there to grab the rebound and tuck it in for his first career NHL goal. Denver Barkey (4) picked up the secondary assist.

Philly held the 1-0 lead, but not too long after, the Sabers were back on the power play after a Nick Seeler roughing penalty. Sabres’ youngster Konsta Helenius fell into the net, and Seeler came in to tell him he could not do that. The power play did not last long after a Noah Ostlund slash was picked up by the officials.

4-on-4 was closed with no scoring, but while on the brief power-play, the Flyers extended their lead. Matvei Michkov’s (2) shot took a funky bounce up off Luukkonen’s pad, and Trevor Zegras (3) was in position to bat it in, extending the Flyers’ lead to 2-0. Jamie Drysdale (1) had the secondary assist.

Despite being outshot 14-9, the Flyers took the 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Sabres Get One Back

With a second remaining in the first period, Jack Quinn tripped up Tyson Foerster, so the Flyers started the second period on the man-advantage.

Buffalo nearly got on the board within the first 30 seconds of the penalty kill after Zach Benson had a golden shorthanded attempt. However, his shot rang off the crossbar, and the Flyers maintained their 2-goal lead.

Philly only managed one shot on the power play before it was killed. The Sabres seemed to have some juice following the kill, but even through the first 5 minutes of the second period, they still had no answer for Vladar.

Jack Quinn nearly had the Sabres’ first goal, but his shot rang iron, too.

The Flyers very much reverted to their play during the losing skid in the second period. They could not seem to figure out the neutral zone play. It was sloppy, and the Sabres were having their way. Much like the first 9 games of the season, they were leaving the goalie out to dry. Fortunately for Philly, with a little help from the iron, Vladar was standing on his head.

The Sabre surge cooled off in the back half of the period, but the Flyers’ play did not clean up either. Philly then got some help from Jason Zucker, who was called for a slash, putting the Flyers back on the power play with a little more than 5 minutes to go in the period.

Even more help was on the way after Owen Power was called for a high stick. However, it was definitely the stick of Zegras that got Michkov up high. Nonetheless, the Flyers had a 5-on-3 advantage.

The Sabres got the kill, then their chance back after Travis Sanheim was caught with a high stick on Zach Benson. Puck doesn’t lie, and the Sabres got on the board in the final minute of the 2nd period.

Jack Quinn (5) fired a shot on goal from a weird angle. Jason Zucker (1) was in front of the net and in position for the deflection score, bringing the game into the second intermission with a 2-1 Flyers lead.

Knuble Scores Again, Flyers Close Out the Win

The Sabres’ second-period pressure continued into the third period, but it was halted pretty quickly.

Cole Knuble danced to the front of the net with the puck after Oliver Bonk (4) jumped on a loose puck and fed it to Knuble (2), who bounced the puck in off Luukkonen’s skate, extending the Philly lead to 3-1 early in the 3rd.

The 2nd-game Flyers nearly completed he hat trick a few minutes later, but could not get the second-chance shot off with a flurry of Sabres in front.

With just about 10 minutes to go in the game, the Flyers actually caught up in the shot battle. The whole game sort of went flat following the Knuble goal. It took until there was 4:47 left on the game clock.

Hunter McDonald flattened Ryan McLeod at center ice, which led to Mattias Samuelsson dropping the gloves with the young Flyers defenseman. Samuelsson was the decisive victor of the bout, but the Sabres lost the overall battle, as he picked up the instigator penalty, too.

That gave the Flyers a late power play, which did not do much more than kill time off Buffalo’s comeback attempt.

The Sabres pulled Luukkonen with 2:30 to play in the game. There was a spark with the extra attacker, but Dan Vladar was as sharp as ever. He silenced the Sabres, closing out the 3-1 win for the Flyers.

What’s Next for the Flyers

The Flyers return home from their trip to Buffalo on Saturday when they host their West Coast rival Anaheim Ducks at Xfinity Mobile Arena at 1:00 PM ET.

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