Adam Kimelman – NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor
PHILADELPHIA — R.J. Umberger’s first goal in 50 games sparked the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.
Michael Raffl had a goal and an assist, and rookie center Nick Cousins scored his first NHL goal.
Steve Mason made 41 saves for Philadelphia (24-20-9), which ended a three-game losing streak (0-2-1), and Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds also scored.
Flyers rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has a 10-game point streak after assisting on Simmonds’ goal; he has two goals and 11 assists during his streak. He’s the first NHL rookie defenseman with a point in 10 straight games since Barry Beck of the Colorado Rockies in 1977-78. He also tied Mikael Renberg (1993-94) for the longest point streak by a Flyers rookie.
Jamie McGinn scored for the Sabres (21-28-6), and Robin Lehner made 23 saves. Buffalo went 0-for-6 on the power play and has lost four straight games (0-2-2).
Cousins made it 5-1 at 10:33 of the third when he blocked a shot by the Sabres’ Justin Bailey, carried the puck into the Buffalo zone and beat Lehner with a slap shot from the left circle.
The goal came 29 seconds after McGinn scored his 12th of the season.
Umberger, whose previous goal was Jan. 27, 2015, scored the first of four second-period goals for Philadelphia when he redirected a Sam Gagner cross-ice pass by Lehner at 1:23.
“It feels amazing,” Umberger said. “The best part was the reaction I got from all my teammates. They know what I’ve been going through. They could sense it. It’s huge support from those guys. When you see them even more happier than I was for myself, it’s an incredible feeling. It’s a huge relief but now it’s time to keep moving forward.”
Schenn scored his 15th goal 48 seconds later to make it 2-0.
Simmonds scored his 20th goal to make it 3-0 at 8:33. Gostisbehere wound up for a shot from the high slot, but Sabres forward Marcus Foligno knocked the puck off his stick. It rolled to Simmonds, who beat Lehner from the right faceoff dot.
Raffl made it 4-0 when he split the Sabres’ Zach Bogosian and Sam Reinhart to get to the net and score at 15:57.
