Flyers roar back to ice Buffalo

Oh, to be a fly on the wall and to hear what Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said to his team after a dreadful opening period Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

"It was not really pretty," Max Talbot said when asked what was said between periods. "We didn't come out like we wanted to."

But after falling into an early 2-0 hole, the Flyers scored seven unanswered goals - including two each by Talbot and Wayne Simmonds - en route to a much-needed 7-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Claude Giroux had a career-high five assists, one shy of the club record set by Eric Lindros in 1997. The last Flyer to have five assists in a game was Alexandre Picard in 2007.

The Flyers, who notched just their second win in the last seven games, erased a 2-0 deficit with four second-period goals, highlighted by a pair of power-play scores from the blistering Simmonds, who has seven goals in his last eight games.

One of the second-period goals was scored by rookie defenseman Erik Gustafsson, who netted his first career NHL tally after taking a slick drop pass from Jakub Voracek and firing a right-circle shot inside the left post.

The win was tempered by the Flyers' loss of two more players - Danny Briere and Tom Sestito - to injuries. Briere appeared to injure his shoulder as he was knocked into the boards by Patrick Kaleta in the first period. Sestito may have injured his hand in a second-period fight with Zack Kassian.

Briere and Sestito joined James van Riemsdyk, Chris Pronger, Jaromir Jagr, Andrej Meszaros, and Blair Betts on the injured or ill list.

After trailing, 2-0, the Flyers erupted for three goals in the first 6 minutes, 49 seconds of the second period - including two almost-identical tallies by Simmonds on the power play - to take a 3-2 lead and chase starting goalie Jhonas Enroth.

Enroth was replaced by Ryan Miller, the Sabres' usual starter.

Talbot got the Flyers within a goal, at 2-1, by tipping in Braydon Coburn's drive 54 seconds into the second period. Talbot started the game as a replacement for the flu-ridden Jagr on the top line with Giroux and Scott Hartnell, but he began the second period with Eric Wellwood and Sean Couturier.

At 3:32 of the second period, Simmonds dug out a rebound and beat Enroth to tie the score. A little more than three minutes later, he did the same thing, scoring another power-play goal and putting the Flyers ahead, 3-2.

It was Simmonds' 20th goal, four more than his previous personal best. Talbot's goal was his 15th, and he later added his 16th, three more than his old career high.

Earlier, Buffalo scored two goals on its first six shots. The second one, a right-wing drive by Thomas Vanek, went under Ilya Bryzgalov's glove and drew a loud chorus of boos. It was the definition of a bad goal.

But the Flyers - and Bryzgalov - regrouped in the second period, with Giroux assisting on the last three goals.

Talbot, Voracek, and Hartnell scored in the first 9:25 of the final period, increasing the lead to 7-2.

It was just the Flyers' 14th win in 28 home games. They are 14-9-5 at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers will host Pittsburgh in a Saturday matinee between two teams battling for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.