After Philadelphia’s lackluster loss in Columbus on Monday, O’Donnell’s first-period fight provided much-needed energy for his teammates, and helped spur the Flyers’ 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
Jeff Carter scored a goal and had two assists, and the Flyers survived a third-period flurry to help forget about a frustrating 2-1 loss to the Blue Jackets, a game in which they said they lacked energy.
“We came out pretty flat, and Sean picked a great time to get a fight going,” said Claude Giroux, who added a goal and an assist. “We started playing after that. It was the turning point of the game. Yesterday wasn’t pretty, but tonight guys were working and it turned out good.”
Danny Briere also recorded a goal and an assist for Philadelphia, which had lost four of five. Nikolay Zherdev, Darroll Powe and Andreas Nodl scored for the Flyers (4-4-1). Sergei Bobrovsky had 32 saves.