Sabres’ winless skid hits 18 as they fall to Flyers in OT

Philadelphia Flyers center Kevin Hayes (right) celebrates with right wing Travis Konecny after scoring a goal against the Buffalo Sabres during the third period at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. (USA TODAY Sports)

Ivan Provorov scored 42 seconds into overtime, and the visiting Philadelphia Flyers overcame a 3-0 deficit to extend the Buffalo Sabres’ franchise-record winless streak to 18 games with a 4-3 victory on Monday night.Off a two-on-one with Travis Konecny, Provorov slid the puck past Buffalo netminder Linus Ullmark to cap a remarkable comeback for the Flyers, who have won back-to-back games for the first time since a three-game winning streak from February 24-28. Philadelphia has also won five straight against the Sabres, who are 0-15-3 since winning at New Jersey on February 23 – the NHL’s longest winless stretch since Pittsburgh went 18 in a row without a victory in 2003-04.Buffalo led 3-0 when Philadelphia finally got on the board via Kevin Hayes’ short one-timer that slid in, after hitting the post and bouncing off Ullmark (32 saves), just 1:50 into the final period. The Flyers made it 3-2 with 9:09 left in the third when Claude Giroux drove home a pass from Sean Couturier to keep the pressure on the Sabres.With goalie Brian Elliott (29 saves) off for the extra skater, Philadelphia tied the game with 1:29 to play in regulation when Couturier got to the puck amid traffic in front of the net and nicked it past Ullmark. That came moments after Buffalo nearly missed an empty-net goal. Buffalo put 13 shots on Elliott’s net in the first period, and was finally rewarded for the effort with 2:19 left in the opening frame. Taking a pass from Curtis Lazar, defenseman Henri Jokiharju skated in all alone and put the puck through Elliott’s legs for a 1-0 Sabres lead. The Sabres made it 2-0 just 2:10 into the second period when Cody Eakin blasted a shot between two Philadelphia defenders that beat Elliott on the short side. With 7:17 left in the middle frame, it was defenseman Brandon Montour, set up nicely by Tage Thompson, who beat Elliott on the glove side to give Buffalo a three-goal edge. Karlsson carries Sharks to shootout win over WildErik Karlsson scored twice in regulation and tallied the game-winning goal in the eighth round of a shootout as the San Jose Sharks rallied to defeat the visiting Minnesota Wild 4-3. Radim Simek also scored in regulation for San Jose before Logan Couture and Kevin Labanc found the back of the net in the shootout. Martin Jones made 22 saves in the win. Marcus Johansson, Nick Bonino and Kevin Fiala scored regulation goals for the Wild. Fiala and Mats Zuccarello were successful in the shootout. Minnesota goalie Cam Talbot made 36 saves. The Sharks are still just 3-5-1 in their past nine games while the Wild are 3-0-1 in their past four.The Wild went without registering a shot on goal for the first 10:51 of the opening frame, but their third shot of the period got them on the board at the 12:41 mark when Johansson’s snap shot eluded Jones. The Sharks leveled the score at 16:04 of the first when Simek’s shot from inside the blue line beat Talbot. The tie didn’t last long as Joel Eriksson Ek set Bonino up for the go-ahead goal at the 19-minute mark. Despite being outshot 18-7 through the first 20 minutes, the Wild took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.In the second period, Evander Kane broke up a play in the Sharks’ zone and started a two-on-one in the opposite direction before setting Karlsson up with a saucer pass right in front of Minnesota’s net. Karlsson’s shot picked the corner over Talbot’s shoulder and tied the game 2-2 at the 15:45 mark.Karlsson scored his second goal of the evening at 4:11 of the third period, a slap shot that rung off the post before going in and giving San Jose a 3-2 lead. Fiala tied the game when he buried a Johansson rebound to make it 3-3 with 10:12 left in regulation.It appeared that Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon scored the winning goal with 2:53 left in overtime, but it was waved off after the officials determined the puck was knocked down by a high stick.Fiala and Couture exchanged goals in the second round of the shootout, and Zuccarello and Labanc tallied in the third round. No other players were successful until Karlsson buried the puck with a slap shot in the eighth round after Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman missed the target with his attempt.Meanwhile Reilly Smith, Tomas Nosek and Nicolas Hague scored second-period goals and the Vegas Golden Knights rallied for a 4-1 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings on Monday.Former Kings defenseman Alec Martinez scored a late goal for the Golden Knights, while Jonathan Marchessault had two assists. Goaltender Robin Lehner made 24 saves as West Division-leading Vegas improved to 8-2-0 over the past 10 games and 4-1-0 against the Kings this season. Matt Roy scored one minute into the game for the Kings, but Los Angeles struggled to create any offense from there. Jonathan Quick had 20 saves for the Kings, who lost their third game in a row.The Golden Knights earned their 24th victory, matching the Tampa Bay Lightning for the most in the NHL.Roy’s quick goal came from the deep slot after Gabriel Vilardi flipped him a backhanded pass from the right circle. It was just the second goal of the season for the defenseman. Smith got the Golden Knights even on the power play at 4:04 of the second period. He pounced on a loose puck in front of the Kings’ goal and flipped it into the roof of the net with Quick sprawled out on the ice.