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Afinogenov, Pominville propel Sabres past Flyers

Mar 5, 2008 - 4:16 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Maxim Afinogenov had two goals and an assist and captain Jason Pominville also scored twice as the Buffalo Sabres tallied three times in the third period en route to a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.

Derek Roy also scored and Steve Bernier and defenseman Henrik Tallinder added two assists apiece for Buffalo (32-26-9), which trails Philadelphia (33-26-8) by one point for eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Scottie Upshall and rookie Steve Downie scored for the shorthanded Flyers, who were playing without 20-goal scorers Daniel Briere (shoulder) and All-Star Mike Richards (hamstring), as well as Joffrey Lupul (ankle).

With the game tied at 2-2 early in the third period, Roy and Pominville scored 18 seconds apart to give the Sabres a lead they would not relinquish.

"A tie game going into the third is a good position to be in," Pominville said. "We got a good start. We got a couple of goals early and we carried on after that."

"They wanted it better than us," Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell said. "They worked harder and they shut us down. It was a little disappointing - us not battling in the third."

With the teams skating 4-on-4, Roy accepted a brilliant centering feed from Afinogenov before backhanding the puck past goaltender Martin Biron 66 seconds into the session for his 26th goal of the season.

Replays showed that Roy left the bench early, giving the Sabres an extra skater on the ice.

"It wasn't intentional," Roy admitted. "I saw our guy come to the bench and I looked away and I just jumped on the ice, and I left early."

"Did you see the third goal?" Flyers coach John Stevens said. "They had five guys on the ice by 60 feet. (The referees) totally blew the call. When they made the pass, the fifth guy is at the far blue line on a breakaway. It was a 4-on-4 to start the period. It's unbelievable."

Referee Don Van Massenhoven, however, said after the game that none of the four officials on the ice saw anything unusual on the play.

Pominville added his 22nd tally of the campaign - and second of the game - moments later by deflecting blue-liner Nolan Pratt's shot into the net for a 4-2 advantage.

"Nolan made a great play," Pominville said. "He faked the shot and he threw it to me, and I just had to bank it in."

"We've had success on 4-on-4," Biron said. "They get that one goal, then we give up another one right after that. It took our energy away, and that was the game right there."

Afinogenov capped the scoring just 4 1/2 minutes later with his ninth goal of the season, which also marked the end of the evening for Biron, who finished with 13 saves.

Pominville opened the scoring 62 seconds into the contest, deflecting Tallinder's shot from just inside the blue line past Biron to give the Sabres a quick 1-0 lead.

Afinogenov doubled Buffalo's advantage nearly nine minutes later after racing up the left wing and backhanding the puck between Biron's pads.

"I tried to stand at the top of the crease and play the shot all the way," Biron said. "When he made the cut, he made a pretty good move on me and I was caught flat-footed."

After Upshall halved the deficit with 5:26 remaining in the first period, Downie leveled the contest 5:51 into the second by wristing a shot that deflected off the stick of defenseman Jaroslav Spacek and past netminder Ryan Miller.