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Peters, Mair help lead Sabres over Flyers

Feb 21, 2007 - 5:20 AM BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Andrew Peters and Adam Mair gave the Buffalo Sabres an unexpected and welcome contribution.

Peters and Mair both snapped lengthy scoring droughts as the Sabres defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-3.

The Sabres, whose 85 points lead the NHL, improved to 5-0-1 in their last six games. The Flyers, the league's worst club, are 3-3-0 in their last six.

"We felt like we were the better team," Philadelphia coach John Stevens said. "We carried the play tonight. There's missing players, it was an opportunity for us to try and take advantage. We got down early and that's a problem against good teams."

"I thought it was a very gritty effort, and it started with Brian Campbell (fighting)," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "Some of our role guys played a good game tonight, with Mair and Peters scoring."

Peters gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead at 12:03 of the first period when he jammed a rebound past goaltender Robert Esche. It was his first tally this season in 43 games.

"I'm not really known for my goal scoring," Peters said. "Personally, it's great. It's a personal achievement every time, but contributing to a win is just as thrilling."

Mair increased Buffalo's advantage to 3-1 at 1:45 of the second period when he deflected defenseman Campbell's shot past Esche. His goal was his second in 60 games this season.

"It was fun to see other guys step up and score some goals tonight," Buffalo center Daniel Briere said. "It's good for the chemistry. It's always good for guys like Adam Mair and Andrew Peters to score. A lot of guys stepped up to the plate and played some different roles. It was fun to see."

Briere had a goal and two assists while Derek Roy, Jason Pominville and Chris Drury scored the other Buffalo goals.

Simon Gagne scored twice while Sami Kapanen scored the other goal for Philadelphia, which has been outscored, 20-8, in its three losses to Buffalo this season.

Gagne has nine goals and four assists in his last seven contests.

Esche was pulled at 2:25 after Briere gave Buffalo a a 4-1 lead. He allowed four goals on 14 shots.

"I don't think it was his (Esche's) fault," Gagne said. "All those goals were not stoppable, especially the last one before he got pulled out, it was a deflection. The shot was going to the side of the net and Briere deflected it. Not even the best goalie in the league is going to stop it. It was more for a change of momentum in the game."

Buffalo netminder Ryan Miller made 32 saves to improve to 4-0-1 in his last five starts with 12 goals allowed.