Sabres Win, Hold Briere Scoreless

Ales Kotalik and Jochen Hecht scored in the third period as Buffalo rallied past Philadelphia, 3-2, in the front end of a home-and-home series at HSBC Arena. The talk coming into the game focused on the return of two former players, as Daniel Briere faced his former team for the first time as a member of the Flyers and goaltender Martin Biron made his first appearance in Buffalo as a member of the opposition. Briere, who recorded career highs with 32 goals, 63 assists and 95 points last season with the Sabres, was nearly a non-factor and registered just one shot in the contest. Drew Stafford also scored, Jaroslav Spacek had a pair of assists and Ryan Miller finished with 20 saves for Buffalo, which is 12-4-0 in its last 16 games, including five straight wins. Jeff Carter and Joffrey Lupul tallied and Biron turned aside 32 shots for the Flyers, who have dropped five straight while allowing 20 goals during its season-high skid. The Flyers are 1-9-0 with one tie in their last 11 games at Buffalo. With the Flyers holding a 2-1 edge, Briere nearly notched a goal against his former team early in the third period, but the puck deflected off the right post. The Sabres tied it up when Kotaliks long slap shot beat a screened Biron at 4:30. The game then turned ugly after Spacek drilled Flyers forward Scottie Upshall in the corner, elbowing his head into the glass after leaving his feet. Spacek was assessed just a two-minute minor for interference, while Upshall had to be helped to the bench. Hecht got the game-winner when he worked his way to the front of the net, and after a rebound kicked right to his stick, easily tapped it past Biron with 2:51 remaining. The Sabres took the lead with 2:05 left in the first period, as Brian Campbell made a move, slid toward the crease from along the right side and tried to jam the puck past Biron. Stafford then crashed the net, and as the disc took a strange carom, knocked it over the goal line before it was swept back out. Carter pulled the Flyers even at 2:13 of the second, as he took a feed from Scott Hartnell in the mid-slot and fired the puck into the back of the cage. Then, just 45 seconds later, Lupul made it 2-1 when he pounced on a rebound and roofed it into the top right corner with Philadelphia skating on the power play. Game Notes The Flyers and head coach John Stevens agreed to a one-year contract extension Friday that will take him through the 2008-09 season...Biron spent eight seasons with the Sabres before he was traded to the Flyers on February 27...These teams meet again in Philadelphia on Saturday night...Lupul has seven goals and four assists in his last six games...Stafford has three goals in his last four games...The Flyers fell to 14-1 on the season when leading after two periods.