PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers picked up their defence and their drive to snap their losing streak. Kaleb McGary Youth Jersey . Playing the lowly Buffalo Sabres helped, too. Brayden Schenn scored two goals, and the Flyers broke a four-game skid with a 5-2 win over Buffalo on Sunday night. Philadelphia, 0-2-2 in its previous four games, maintained third place in the Metropolitan Division -- two points ahead of Columbus -- by winning for the second time in eight games (2-4-2). With four games remaining, the Flyers trail the second-place New York Rangers by two points, but have a game in hand. "Our intensity was up and guys were skating and working right away in the game," Philadelphia coach Craig Berube said. "It was important for the confidence level just to get guys spirits back up." The Flyers hadnt played poorly during the losing streak, which included two defeats to Boston and one to St. Louis. The Bruins and Blues lead their respective conferences. Schenn, Vincent Lecavalier and Zac Rinaldo scored second-period goals to put Philadelphia ahead 4-0. Matt Read also scored and Mark Streit had three assists. "I thought we played a solid team game, defence-first mentality," Schenn said. "Two points is key. We just have to worry about ourselves and worry about the two points each night." Cory Hodgson and Mike Weber scored third-period goals for Buffalo, which lost its sixth straight road game and fell to 2-13-1 in its last 16 overall. The Sabres, assured of finishing with the fewest points in the NHL, have scored eight goals during their road skid. Buffalo, already missing 10 players due to injuries, might have lost another as Chad Ruhwedel sustained a concussion on a third-period hit by Rinaldo, who was given a match penalty for the blow to Ruhwedels head. "Theres no big brother for them," Buffalo coach Ted Nolan said of his inexperienced players. "They have to sink or swim, and certain games like this, its going to catch up to us." Rinaldo, who entered with a team-high 137 penalty minutes, racked up 16 on Sunday and could face an NHL suspension. "I had a lot of speed going at him. I put my shoulder down, and as he shot the puck my shoulder hit him clearly," Rinaldo said. "Proof is in the pudding right there. I shouldnt have done it. Theres no need for it. Were up 4-0, but its part of the game. "That always happens with me. I get on a good streak and then something bad always happens. I try not to think about it too much." Read got Philadelphia on the board 6 1/2 minutes into the game by scoring on a rebound. After Buffalos Cory Conacher turned the puck over, Streit fired a slap shot that caromed off the post to the slot, where a wide-open Read unleashed a wrister past rookie goalie Nathan Lieuwen. "As soon as (Read) got that goal, it gave us a boost and we started scoring goals," Schenn said. The Flyers turned the game into a rout with three second-period goals. Rinaldo, known more for pesky play than scoring, netted his second goal of the season when his wrist shot went off Lieuwens glove and trickled over the line to make it 2-0 with 12:20 left. Schenn deflected in Streits slap shot on the power play with 5:40 remaining, snapping the Flyers 0-for-12 skid on the man-advantage and stretching the lead to three goals. Lecavalier then put a shot above Lieuwens right shoulder just over 1 1/2 minutes later from the top of the right circle. Mason earned an assist on the goal for his first point of the season and seventh of his eight-year career. Schenn scored his second goal with 4:50 left in the game when he fired a wrist shot past Lieuwens glove. Lieuwen, making his fifth career start, had 32 saves. "When you have an experienced team in front of an inexperienced goaltender, theres positions where you cover up for the mistakes," Nolan said. "They dont have to get shots from all over. Its one of those situations where it is what it is, and theyre getting a lot of work." NOTES: The Sabres were without wingers Drew Stafford (33 points) and Chris Stewart (26), who entered ranked third and fifth in team scoring. Also out were Buffalos top two goalies, Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth. ... Philadelphia swept the season series 3-0 and won its fifth straight at home against Buffalo and eighth in 10 games overall. ... Flyers RW Steve Downie (lower body) missed his eighth straight game. ... Philadelphia will next play at lowly Florida on Tuesday and then face Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, which have both clinched post-season berths, on the road before Sundays home finale against Carolina. ... Webers goal was his first in 64 games this season. Qadree Ollison Youth Jersey . Garcia had eight birdies overall to go with a lone bogey on the fourth to move to an 18-under total of 198 at the Asian Tour event. "I was able to hit some really nice shots and then was able to roll two or three really good putts in and it was nice to be able to finish birdie, birdie on this difficult finishing stretch," Garcia said. Deion Sanders Youth Jersey .J. -- The New Jersey Devils are so bad in shootouts, coach Pete DeBoer doesnt mind seeing his team take chances in the five-minute overtime.PINEHURST, N.C. -- Graham DeLaet played his first round at the U.S. Open not unlike his first round at the Masters. There were some nerves and there werent any birdies. The Canadian ended up posting a five-over 75 on the Pinehurst No. 2 course that left him 10 back of the lead. “I got off to a rough start,” DeLaet acknowledged after his round. “It might have been just a little bit of nerves. I wasnt hitting my driver great and then a couple of short-game miscues.” DeLaet started with bogeys on two of the first three holes, including a three-putt on the 12th hole from about 10 feet. Still, he didnt appear out of sorts on the course in the early going and after a bogey on the par-3 15th, he settled into a nice stretch, rolling off nine-straight pars. “I felt I got in a pretty good rhythm for the majority of the middle part of my round,” he stated. “I wasnt really able to make birdies, but I had a couple of tap-in pars that kept it stress free.” He stumbled in, however, making what he called disappointing bogeys on two of the last three holes. An errant tee shot on seven that landed in a bunker led to a bogey while on the last hole he was unable to get on the green in two. “It was disappointing to bogey seven and nine coming in because, if I was able to finish at three over, I would have been pretty happpy,” he said. Steve Bartkowski Falcons Jersey. The stats show that DeLaet made 10 fairways – above average for the field – and 11 greens, also above the average. But on the greens, the putter didnt seem to be working. He used his flat stick 33 times, far too many, but easily understandable on Pinehursts difficult greens. “Its tough,” summed up DeLaet. “Its a tough round of golf. I felt like I handled it well. Unfortunately, I just didnt execute coming in.” DeLaets score came on a day when the field posted the lowest scoring average at a U.S. Open since 2003. The course average was 73.23 and there were more under par scores on Day One than in the opening rounds of the previous two years combined. But on a course that is playing this tough and with few birdie holes on the course, planning a comeback is not as easy. DeLaet understands that and will try to stay the course as he did in the first round. “Its just being patient,” he stated. “I was proud of myself for doing that all day even though its hard to aim a nine-iron 30 feet from the hole just trying to make four, but thats kind of what you have to do. Well see what happens, if I get a little behind the eight ball I might have to press. “Im not completely out of it. I know that a good round [Friday] will go a long way to getting back into it.” ' ' '
