Rookie Knuble Scores His First Two NHL Goals as Flyers Beat Sabres 3-1

Cole Knuble had waited one game for his first NHL goal. He scored two of them on Wednesday night in Buffalo. The rookie forward scored in the first and third periods as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 at KeyBank Center, their third straight win.

Knuble was playing his second career game. He scored his first two goals in front of his father, Mike Knuble, who played 1,068 games with five teams in the NHL, the Associated Press reported. Dan Vladar made 27 saves for Philadelphia, and Trevor Zegras scored the other Flyers goal.

A two goal first period

Philadelphia grabbed a 2-0 lead late in the first period. Knuble opened the scoring at 14 minutes and 49 seconds, collecting a rebound and tucking the puck in for his first career goal. Zegras added a power play goal at 19 minutes and 17 seconds, batting a rebound of a Matvei Michkov shot out of the air past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Buffalo cut the lead in the second period. Jason Zucker, making his season debut after sports hernia surgery, scored on a power play at 19 minutes and 25 seconds of the second to make it 2-1. Luukkonen stopped 23 shots for the Sabres.

Knuble closed the scoring early in the third. His second goal, at 3 minutes and 3 seconds, banked in off Luukkonen's skate and restored the two goal lead. Philadelphia held it the rest of the way, taking the periods 2-0, 0-1 and 1-0 on the score sheet.

Returns on both sides

Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin returned to the lineup after missing four games with an upper body injury. Flyers forward Tyson Foerster also returned, after a one game absence because of an undisclosed injury. The Sabres are 1-1-2 in their last four games, according to AP, and the loss came at home in a game where Buffalo generated pressure but could beat Vladar only once, on the power play.

For Philadelphia, the story is the rookie. A fourth line forward scoring twice in his second game, with his father in the building, is the kind of night a team remembers long after the standings move on. Knuble finished as the only player in the game with two goals.

What happens next

Both teams play again on Saturday. Buffalo opens a four game trip at the Washington Capitals, and Philadelphia returns home to host the Anaheim Ducks, according to AP. The Flyers carry a three game winning run into that home game. Buffalo goes on the road still looking for the scoring that stayed missing on Wednesday night.