Flyers vs. Sabres: Rookie Cole Knuble Scores His First Two NHL Goals as Philadelphia Wins a Third Straight

Cole Knuble did not need anything fancy. He needed a loose puck and a backhand. At 14:49 of the first period in Buffalo, Oliver Bonk's point shot kicked out in front, Knuble got to it first and put a backhand past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen's right skate. First NHL goal, second NHL game.

He was not done. Knuble scored again early in the third, Trevor Zegras added a power-play goal and Dan Vladar made 27 saves as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 on Wednesday night at KeyBank Center. That is three straight wins for a team that opened the season 0-6-3, and the first road win of the year.

The Rookie Goes to the Net

Knuble's first goal came off the kind of shift coaches put on a loop in the video room. Bonk shot from the point, Denver Barkey picked up the second assist, and Knuble did the simple, unglamorous thing that rookies are told to do on day one: he went to the net.

"I just went to the net. I saw a shot coming and it was just sitting there, so I just put it on my backhand," Knuble said. "It was pretty cool that 'Bonker' and (Denver Barkey) were part of that."

Philadelphia doubled the lead before intermission. Noah Ostlund was called for slashing Noah Cates at 17:51, and at 19:17 Luukkonen slid to his left to stop Matvei Michkov's shot from the right circle. The rebound popped into the air, and Zegras swatted it out of midair and into the net for his third goal of the season. Per NHL.com, the assist was Michkov's 70th career helper, which moved him past Bill Barber for seventh most by a Flyers player age 21 or younger. Jamie Drysdale, who logged a team-high 24:37, picked up the other assist.

The second period stayed scoreless until a late run of three minors in under three minutes, and Buffalo cashed in on the last of them. With Travis Sanheim off for high-sticking, Jack Quinn spotted Jason Zucker at the crease and fired a feed that redirected off the shaft of Zucker's stick at 19:25. Zucker, making his season debut after offseason sports hernia surgery, had cut it to 2-1 and given the home crowd something to carry into the third.

Two Games, Two Goals

That momentum lasted 3:03. Buffalo defenseman Louis Crevier lost his stick in a puck battle, Bonk slipped a short pass to Knuble driving to the net, and the rookie squeezed it past Luukkonen's left leg for a 3-1 lead.

Knuble is the son of former NHL forward Mike Knuble, who played 1,068 games with five teams, 338 of them in Philadelphia. The Flyers drafted Cole in the fourth round, 103rd overall, in 2023, and he made his NHL debut on Monday in a 3-2 win over Colorado. According to NHL.com, he is the seventh Flyers rookie to record his first multigoal game within his first two NHL games, and the first since Vinny Prospal in 1996-97.

He did all of that in 10:24 of ice time. "I'm confident in my abilities. It's obviously a jump up, best players in the world," Knuble said.

Bonk was nearly as important. The defenseman assisted on both Knuble goals and played 19:34. Vladar, meanwhile, finished with a .964 save percentage and was beaten only on the deflection.

On the other side, Luukkonen made 24 saves on 27 shots before being pulled for an extra attacker. Zucker played 12:16 and was honest about his first night back. "But I thought it was average for me," he said.

Turning Point: Knuble Answers Right Away

Zucker's goal late in the second was the kind that flips a game. Buffalo had been chasing all night, and suddenly it had a one-goal deficit, a fresh sheet of ice and a full period to work with. Knuble took the air out of the building barely three minutes in.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff zeroed in on the same areas Knuble exploited. "We talked about missed nets, missed opportunities," Ruff said. "I think we're, like, 31st or 32nd when it comes to missed nets." He was just as blunt about the crease: "They won the net battle for a couple goals. We didn't."

The night got chippier late. At 15:13 of the third, Buffalo's Mattias Samuelsson fought Philadelphia's Hunter McDonald and was assessed an instigator penalty and a game misconduct, an unpleasant ending to what NHL.com noted was the 300th game of Samuelsson's NHL career.

Stats That Matter

• 28-27: Shots on goal, Buffalo's way. The volume was even; the finishing was not.
• .964: Vladar's save percentage on 28 shots.
• 1-for-5 vs. 1-for-3: Both power plays scored once. Philadelphia just got more chances.
• 25-11: Penalty minutes, Buffalo against Philadelphia, inflated by the late fight and misconduct.
• 27-21: Buffalo's edge in faceoffs won.

What It Means

The Flyers are 3-6-3 with nine points and suddenly have a pulse. After nine games without a win, they have beaten Ottawa, Colorado and now Buffalo, and they are 1-4-1 on the road. Coach Rick Tocchet credited the guys filling gaps in the lineup.

"I'm proud of them because we've got a lot of guys out, and some guys are stepping up and getting more minutes," Tocchet said. "It's a lot of positive stuff, and we know we still have a lot of work to do." Philadelphia hosts Anaheim on Saturday.

Buffalo falls to 4-4-2 with 10 points, and its four-game point streak (2-0-2) is over. Captain Rasmus Dahlin was back in the lineup after an upper-body injury, which helps, but the Sabres are 3-3-0 at home and head out Saturday to open a four-game road trip in Washington.

A Legacy Sequel Writes Itself

If a studio pitched this as a legacy sequel, the notes would come back calling it too neat: a fourth-round pick, the son of a longtime Flyer, scores twice in his second game to extend the team's first winning streak of the season. Hockey does not usually hand out scripts that clean.

Knuble seems to know exactly what kind of player he wants to be in the meantime. "I think I can bring energy, and I'll do whatever it takes to be a part of this group," he said. Two games in, he has already done a lot more than that.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.