Rookie Knuble Scores Twice as Flyers Beat Sabres 3-1 for Third Straight Win
Cole Knuble's first two NHL goals, plus a Trevor Zegras power-play goal, gave Philadelphia its first road win of the season.
The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 at KeyBank Center on Wednesday night, with rookie Cole Knuble scoring the first two goals of his NHL career.
Knuble's night
Knuble opened the scoring in the first period with his first NHL goal, cleaning up a rebound from Oliver Bonk's point shot, according to NHL.com. He added a second early in the third period, assisted by Bonk, to make it 3-1. The Inquirer describes the second goal as Knuble faking a wraparound and banking the puck off goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen's skate. Bonk had a primary assist on both of Knuble's goals. Knuble is the son of former Flyers forward Mike Knuble, and the Inquirer reports they are the first father-son pair to score for the franchise.
Special teams
Trevor Zegras made it 2-0 on the power play with 43 seconds left in the first period, knocking in a rebound that came off a Matvei Michkov shot. Buffalo got on the board on its own power play late in the second period, when Jason Zucker scored from in front off a Jack Quinn pass. NHL.com notes it was Zucker's season debut after offseason sports hernia surgery.
Dan Vladar made 27 saves for Philadelphia; Luukkonen stopped 23 for Buffalo. Shots, per the Inquirer, were 28 for the Sabres and 26 for the Flyers.
What it means
NHL.com lists the Flyers at 3-6-3 after the win, their third in a row and their first on the road this season. Buffalo, now 4-4-2, saw a four-game point streak end. Rasmus Dahlin returned for the Sabres after missing three games with an upper-body injury, playing 26:27, per NHL.com, and Mattias Samuelsson played his 300th NHL game.
Flyers coach Rick Tocchet, quoted by NHL.com, said "we know we still have a lot of work to do." Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said of the decisive goals: "They won the net battle for a couple goals. We didn't."
Philadelphia hosts the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday at 1 p.m., per the Inquirer.