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Thursday, Dec. 2 7:00pm ET
Beezer's 800th game a winner

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Home hasn't been too kind to the Buffalo Sabres lately.


	Sabres goalie Martin Biron sprawls on the ice after Philadelphia's Eric Lindros, right, charged the net and scored 24 seconds into the game.

The Sabres lost their third straight at Marine Midland Arena on Thursday night, 4-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers.

John Vanbiesbrouck made 18 saves in his 800th career game, while Eric Lindros, Simon Gagne, Jody Hull, and John LeClair scored for the Flyers. Philadelphia is 14-3-3 since starting the season 0-5-1.

Michal Grosek and Wayne Primeau scored for Buffalo (11-13-2), which has lost three straight home games for the first time since last December and January.

For Buffalo, halfway through a stretch in which 10 of 12 games are at home, the streak is becoming a growing concern.

"Now it's one game at a time," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We don't have a lot of time to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. We've got to find a way to win a game.

"We've had key players make key mistakes at key times of the game. There's going to be stretches when your key players don't score. Other players are going to have to pick it up."

Grosek said the team's slump is attributed to one major thing.

"Penalties are killing us," Grosek said. "We can't do that against good teams. Philadelphia is a good team, and they will score. If you get behind two goals, you have a minimum chance to win."

The Sabres have allowed a power-play goal in their last three games, and in five of their last six.

The Flyers took a 1-0 lead 24 seconds into the game on Lindros' 12th goal. He charged to the net by skating behind two Sabres players and tipped home a lead pass from Mark Recchi.

"It was a big goal for us," LeClair said. "A team like Buffalo plays better when they have the lead. When you have the lead against them, it enables you to play your game."

Buffalo endured a sequence in the first period in which the Flyers were on the power play for all but 25 seconds of a 7:15 stretch. Philadelphia fired 11 shots on Martin Biron in that time, but didn't increase their lead until the second period.

"It's bad to give up a goal in the first minute on the first shot," said Biron, who made 28 saves. "After the first period, they had 18 shots and only one goal, so we were still in the game."

Gagne came through on the power play, scoring 4:01 into the second period to put the Flyers up 2-0. Gagne's wrist shot, taken along the goal line to the right of Biron, deflected off Sabres defenseman Rhett Warriner and behind the Buffalo goalie.

Grosek scored on the power play for Buffalo with 7:28 to go in the second period. Vanbiesbrouck made an initial save on Michael Peca, but left the net open for Grosek to flip in the rebound.

Grosek scored in his third straight game, the longest streak of his career.

Less than three minutes later, Hull scored a short-handed goal to make it 3-1. He intercepted an errant crossing pass and scored his fourth on a breakaway.

In the third period, Primeau scored his fourth with 14:11 remaining. He dug the puck from behind the net, and bounced the puck into the net off Vanbiesbrouck's skate.

"We checked well in the third," Flyers coach Roger Neilson said. "We would have liked to have gotten another one. I started playing a little more careful than I would have liked to."

LeClair scored his 12th into an empty net with 9.2 seconds remaining.

ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard

Philadelphia Clubhouse

Buffalo Clubhouse

Head to head: Peca vs. Lindros

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Philadelphia 4
Buffalo 2

Boston 2
Washington 2

Toronto 2
Carolina 2

Calgary 5
NY Islanders 0

San Jose 5
Pittsburgh 2

St. Louis 3
Nashville 1

Phoenix 3
Tampa Bay 1

Vancouver 3
Edmonton 2