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Kotalik lifts Sabres past Flyers

Dec 23, 2007 - 4:44 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Ales Kotalik scored the lone tally in the first round of the shootout and Ryan Miller denied all three attempts as the Buffalo Sabres completed a home-and-home sweep by defeating the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-5, on Saturday.

Buffalo, which posted a 3-2 triumph over Philadelphia on Friday, has won six in a row, while the Flyers have lost six straight.

Kotalik's wrist shot beat goaltender Martin Biron just inside the right post while Miller stopped Mike Richards, Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter to preserve the victory.

"I was trying to surprise Marty (Biron) a little bit with a quick shot," Kotalik said. "He knows me pretty well and I think that he expected something different from me. It paid off for us and we got the two points."

Miller said that he tried to change his routine in the shootout.

"I was trying to be unpredictable knowing that Danny (Briere) had told them all about me," Miller said. "I tried to change it up on all of them and handle them differently. I was trying to change their shot and maybe they'll miss and tonight, they did."

"I read him well and I thought that I had him," Briere said on his shootout attempt. "I made the move that I wanted to make, but the puck slipped off my stick at the end."

Miller made 31 saves in the shootout win, which was the first for the Sabres this season.

"He's a good goalie and I seen it many nights," Briere said. "He's one of the best in the shootouts. All they need most nights is one goal because he makes most of the saves." "We had a lead and we were playing well," Miller said. "We showed good character coming back, and it's good to go into the holiday like that."

Buffalo's Thomas Vanek scored with eight seconds left to push the game into overtime as he redirected a shot by Jochen Hecht. "It was a great faceoff and we got it back," Vanek said. "We did what we wanted to. We got guys in front of the net. Jochen had a great shot to get it to the net. I had a good tip on it and it went in."

Maxim Afinogenov, Kotalik, Jason Pominville and Jaroslav Spacek also scored for Buffalo.

The Sabres also remained undefeated in all 10 games in which Kotalik has scored a goal. "It's just a coincidence," Kotalik said. "I'm just happy that I can chip in where I can fill in. It has brought us success lately."

Richards and Carter had two goals apiece while defenseman Kimmo Timonen's tally 3:51 into the third period gave the Flyers a 5-4 lead.

Afinogenov opened the scoring 2:18 into the first period with a power-play goal, but Carter leveled the game with his first tally of the night.

Kotalik and Pominville scored under five minutes apart in the second period to give Buffalo a 3-1 lead.

Briere and Richards leveled the game at 3-3 by each netting a shorthanded goal 55 seconds apart.

Spacek regained the lead for the Sabres with his team on a 5-on-3 power play, but Richards returned the favor with the Flyers enjoying a two-man advantage.

Biron, who was traded from Buffalo in February, made 23 saves against his former team.

"I thought that we did everything we needed to do to win in the third period," Biron said. "We had the puck in our hand with a chance to get two points. It's disappointing to lose that one point."