Flyers roll over Sabres, 3-0, behind Brian Elliott

The Flyers went into Buffalo to face a team that is limping, griping, and in last place in the division and did precisely what they needed to do.

They released the Brauner.

Defenseman Justin Braun and three of his teammates returned from COVID-19 protocol to help the Flyers pick up a methodical 3-0 win over the Sabres on Saturday.

Brian Elliott stopped 23 shots and Sean Couturier, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Scott Laughton had the goals, while Braun was part of a defensive group that suffocated the Sabres, who have been shut out twice by the Flyers in three games this season. Both times by Elliott.

“There’s no doubt I was very pleased by how [Braun played],” coach Alain Vigneault said. “Guys were kidding around before the game that [they were going to] ‘unleash the Brauner.’ And he did play well.”

The solid play of all four lines allowed Vigneault to keep almost all of his forwards’ ice time under 18 minutes, an important strategic accomplishment since these two teams will run it right back on Sunday afternoon in Buffalo. Only Kevin Hayes and Claude Giroux played more than 18 minutes among the forwards.

The 34-year-old Braun played 21 minutes, 20 seconds and was plus-2 for the afternoon. His poke-check to stop Tobias Rieder from going in all alone in the second period was just one of several strong defensive plays.

It’s the second-highest ice time he’s had this season.

“He’s a veteran guy. He’s been around,” Laughton said of Braun, the oldest regular on the team besides Elliott. “He knows what to do and is a great guy in the locker room, so I guess we’ll keep unleashing him.”

The Flyers are 10-4-3, gathering points and picking up reinforcements up front as well.

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A pair of long diagonal passes covering about 160 feet were an exclamation point for the Comeback Line.

Jake Voracek slid a cross-ice backhand feed to Oskar Lindblom, who spotted Laughton streaking down the left side with 66 seconds left in the second period for the final goal of the afternoon.

The three were playing their first game since coming off the COVID-19 protocol list. Vigneault calls it his COVID line, but that feels a little callous. Call it what you want, but they were clicking on Saturday.

Laughton had seven shot attempts, Voracek had three and a pair of blocked shots on defense, and Lindblom had the gorgeous primary assist on Laughton’s goal and helped kill penalties. The Sabres came into the day with the league’s top power play, but the Flyers snuffed out all three of their chances.

“It was a solid game for us,” said Lindblom. “Now we just have to relax and come back and be better than that tomorrow.”

Rather than try to intersperse each within the existing lines, Vigneault kept the three players together to let them figure out their own chemistry. They had one practice on Friday, and don’t figure to have another until maybe the middle of this week.

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James van Riemsdyk had one assist and was involved in the forecheck that led to another as he continued stuffing his stat line. He has 20 points in his last 13 games.

Buffalo (6-9-3) played without captain Jack Eichel and starting goalie Linus Ullmark. Eichel is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Ullmark is out for a month with a lower-body injury.

Jeff Skinner, who had been scratched the previous three games, was in the lineup. His production and playing time, or lack thereof, combined with his $9 million salary have been a source of consternation among Sabres fans. But that’s their problem.

The Flyers have won two in a row — in regulation — since the Tumult at Tahoe. So what if they beat the Sabres without their best player or the Rangers without Artemi Panarin. The story, the Flyers hope, is the players returning to their lineup, not who’s absent for the opponents.

“You could just feel the energy in the room’” said Elliott, who has now stopped all 63 shots Buffalo has thrown at him this season. “Everybody’s kind of raring to go. It felt like training camp all over again. It’s almost like a fresh start.”