Owen Tippett scored three goals to lift the host Philadelphia Flyers to a dominant 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.
Joel Farabee and James van Riemsdyk each added one goal for the Flyers (25-32-11, 61 points), who snapped a four-game losing streak.
Kevin Hayes and Tony DeAngelo each had two assists for the Flyers. Goaltender Carter Hart made 36 saves.
Victor Olofsson scored two goals for the Sabres (33-29-6, 72 points), who lost their second straight. Sabres goaltender Craig Anderson stopped 17 shots.
The Sabres entered the night six points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild-card spot. Buffalo is attempting to snap an 11-year streak of missing the playoffs.
Buffalo came out aggressive in the third period and closed within 4-1 when Olofsson scored on the power play at 2:27.
The Flyers responded to go back ahead by four goals when Tippett notched his first career hat trick at 5:33 for a 5-1 lead. Tippett scored on the backhand and the hats came pouring down on the ice from the stands.
Olofsson’s second power-play goal came with just 0.4 seconds remaining with the game already decided.
Tippett skated in all alone and fired a backhand shot at 12:36 of the first period, which was stopped by Anderson. Just 23 seconds later, Buffalo’s Jordan Greenway had a terrific scoring chance, but his backhand shot was stopped by Hart.
The Flyers went ahead 1-0 at 15:10 when Tippett ripped a wrist shot on the power play into the upper corner of the net.
Philadelphia took a 2-0 advantage at 3:53 of the second period when Farabee connected.
Tippett’s second goal, coming at 13:14 for his 20th of the season, gave the Flyers a 3-0 advantage.
Philadelphia kept the pressure on and took a 4-0 lead at 18:21 following van Riemsdyk’s tap-in.
The Sabres appeared to express their frustration as several players became entangled with the Flyers by the boards with 50.5 seconds remaining. Riley Stillman and Zemgus Girgensons were noticeably upset.
–Field Level Media
