The Philadelphia Flyers fell to the Buffalo Sabres 5–3 on Thursday night. Earlier in the day, the Flyers placed defenseman Egor Zamula on waivers, where he remains unclaimed. Meanwhile, Rasmus Ristolainen, who returned to the lineup against Montreal, continued to give the Flyers a much-needed physical presence on the back end.
Sam Ersson got the start in goal for the Flyers, while Alex Lyon was between the pipes for Buffalo. Once again, the Flyers found themselves trailing first, as Jack Quinn opened the scoring — marking the 23rd time this season Philadelphia has allowed the opening goal.
The response was immediate. Just 58 seconds later, Noah Cates tied the game after a stellar no-look, backward pass from Bobby Brink set him up for the snipe. The teams remained deadlocked after 20 minutes as both sides pushed for the go-ahead goal.
Cam York broke the tie early in the second period, scoring his second goal of the season to give the Flyers a brief 2–1 lead. That advantage didn’t last long, however, as Tage Thompson and Noah Östlund answered back to swing the momentum in Buffalo’s favor and put the Sabres ahead 3–2.
Ersson once again surrendered at least three goals, and the shift in momentum was noticeable. Buffalo began to control the pace, while the Flyers looked fatigued. The Sabres extended their lead midway through the third period when Josh Norris scored on the power play, making it 4–2.
Philadelphia showed signs of life late, as Travis Konecny buried a goal with just under five minutes remaining to pull the Flyers within one. A costly hooking penalty against Trevor Zegras forced the Flyers to kill another Sabres power play, which they successfully did. Despite earning a power play of their own late, time ran out on the Flyers, and Buffalo sealed the win with an empty-net goal.
The Flyers will continue their road trip as they head to Madison Square Garden to take on the Rangers on Saturday.
