Five Flyers post multi-point games in dominant win over Sabres

Don't look now, but the Flyers are on a roll. With a rather convincing 5-2 victory over the Sabres, Philadelphia has won three straight games. They have points in five straight, and eight of their last 11. There's a lot of time left in the season, but the results have been good lately.

The Flyers had the first four goals of the game and looked good, even if they didn't jump on the Sabres right off the bat. The shot totals were much improved from the game against Ottawa as Philadelphia had double-digit shots in both the first and second periods.

Tyson Foerster, who has struggled at times to score, opened the scoring with the Flyers' only power-play goal of the game. It broke a seven-game drought for the young forward.

Travis Sanheim, who had played with a ton of confidence lately, doubled the lead just before the four-minute mark. It was one of two points he had on the evening.

Egor Zamula, who may have played his best game of the season, scored his first goal of the year early in the third period.

Travis Konecny added his first of two games with under three minutes to go in the second. He finished with three points, adding an empty netter to seal the game.

Buffalo did make it interesting with two goals over midway through the third period. Rasmus Dahlin cracked Ivan Fedotov, who had another strong game, on the power play. Ryan McLeod got the Sabres' within two as they had emptied their net with five minutes to go.

Travis Sanheim making case for Four Nations

With injuries to Cam York and Jamie Drysdale, Sanheim has taken on a much more expanded role. He's hit the 30+ minute mark in recent games and looks like the added time has only fueled his confidence. Offensively, he has five points in his last two games after just one point in the previous seven.

That doesn't mean that he has been slacking off defensively, either. Using just the Sabres game alone, Sanheim was easily the team's best defenseman, even with the strong play of Zamula. The Flyers outscored Buffalo 2-0 with Sanheim on the ice. Chances were solidly in Philadelphia's favor. The defenseman did it all for Philadelphia.

Sanheim has been playing so well that John Tortorella took the chance after the game to make his case for Canada's Four Nations roster.

“I hope Hockey Canada is watching,” Tortorella said after Saturday's win. “Because if that guy is not on that team when they pick that team — he has just been so impressive. You watch him play, but just how he carries himself. I know I always talk about that, but I think it’s very important. He’s taken off. He’s got a level of confidence that is just outstanding."

Ivan Fedotov has stabilized his game

It was not a good start to the season for Fedotov. He took a loss in three straight, allowing four in more goals in all of his outings. And then he was tagged late to start the game against Tampa Bay. He allowed a single goal to win his first career game.

Since then, Fedotov has played with more confidence in his game. It took that first victory, a long time coming, for him to settle down. He has seen his GAA take a massive drop as he sits at 3.64 on the season. His SV% is creeping up toward the .900 mark (.871). When a goaltender is playing with more confidence in the net, the entire team feeds off it.

It took the Sabres until midway through the third to get one past Fedotov. He made plenty of strong saves before and after that. One of his best came on Dylan Cozens during 4-on-4 play in the second period. He also robbed Bowen Byram at the end of the first period. He had a blocker save after a turnover on former Flyer Nicolas Aube-Kubel earlier in the period.

Fedotov has played himself back into the Flyers' goaltending situation and could earn more starts with Sam Ersson sidelined again.

The Flyers have another tough couple of games to go on this home stand. They'll face a much healthier Avalanche team on Monday. The Hurricanes will be in town on Wednesday. After a Saturday matinee with Chicago, the Flyers finish up at home with Vegas.