BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Daniel Briere scored twice in 2:05 span in
the second period for his first multigoal game in more than six
months, leading the Philadelphia Flyers to a 6-4 victory over the
Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.
Mike Richards had a power-play goal and two assists, and Simon
Gagne, Mike Knuble, and Jeff Carter also scored to help
Philadelphia snap a two-game losing streak. Martin Biron made 39
saves, and Kimmo Timonen had three assists.
Thomas Vanek, Dominic Moore, Derek Roy, and Chris Butler scored
for Buffalo, which is trying to climb back into playoff contention
but has only one win in its last six games. Patrick Lalime stopped
25 shots.
Philadelphia remained tied with Pittsburgh for fourth place in
the Eastern Conference. Both teams have 86 points.
Briere, the former Buffalo captain who last had a two-goal game
on Oct. 18 at San Jose, tied it at 3 with 2:40 to go in the second
period, slapping in a rebound from about 12 feet out. He then
scored the go-ahead goal with 35 seconds remaining, firing in a
slap shot from the slot.
Knuble added an insurance goal 4:31 into the third period,
batting in a rebound from in front. The goal was only granted after
a lengthy video review proved to be inconclusive, thus upholding
the ruling of the on-ice officials.
Carter finished off a 2-on-1 with 2 minutes to go, and Butler
scored a last-ditch goal with 1.2 seconds remaining.
In the first period, Richards missed on a penalty shot with 2:14
remaining, ringing his wrist shot off a goalpost. He made up for it
42 seconds later, opening the scoring on a low wrist shot which got
between two defensemen and past Lalime.
In a back-and-forth second period, each team scored three times.
Buffalo grabbed a 2-1 lead on goals by Vanek and Moore in the first
6:22, but Gagne tied it at 2-2 with a power-play goal at 10:14. Roy
again put the Sabres up with 5:54 to before Briere scored twice to
put Philadelphia back on top.
The Flyers swept the four-game season series against Buffalo,
outscoring the Sabres 19-8. It was Philadelphia's first season
sweep of Buffalo since winning all four meetings in 2000-01.
Notes: Philadelphia will conclude its current four-game road swing
Sunday in Pittsburgh. ... Richards has three goals and eight
assists in his last nine games. Gagne has four goals and seven
assists in his last nine. ... Moore's goal was his first point as a
Sabre. It came in his seventh game with the team after being
acquired from Toronto at the trade deadline.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)