DYLAN COZENS

The NHL will emerge from an extended holiday break with taxi squads and other roster revisions to guard against more disruptions to the season.

Jack Eichel, now stripped of his captaincy, has likely played his final game for the Sabres because of a rift with the team over how to treat a herniated disk. Forward Sam Reinhart and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen got their wish to escape Buffalo after being traded in July. Despite another offseason of headaches and negative headlines, veteran forward Kyle Okposo chose his words carefully in assessing why he believes the Sabres might be finally pointed in the right direction after spending the past decade dwelling mostly in dysfunction.

Buffalo Sabres celebrate a goal by center Curtis Lazar (27) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Buffalo, N.Y., Wednesday, March 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)BUFFALO, N.Y. – Linus Ullmark stopped 31 shots and the Buffalo Sabres snapped an 18-game skid — the NHL’s longest in 17 years — with a 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night. It was the first win for Buffalo since a 4-1 victory at New Jersey on Feb. 23, and ended an 0-15-3 streak. The Sabres also snapped a 0-9-2 home skid, one short of matching a franchise record set during the 1990-91 season. After Philadelphia’s Ivan Provorov scored 3:50 into the second period, Buffalo responded by closing the period with goals from Fogarty and Casey Mittelstadt.

“I wasn’t thinking about it," Vanecek said of his first NHL shootout. “We want to win hockey games in good ways and feel good about ourselves,” Dowd said. Buffalo rookie Dylan Cozens scored his first NHL goal on a top-shelf snipe past Vanecek in the second period. The Capitals were fined $100,000 Wednesday for breaking league rules since those four players were together in a hotel room not wearing masks. Goaltender Carter Hutton didn’t travel with the team because of an apparent head injury from a collision Tuesday in Philadelphia.