(My Sportsbook) - The fact that there were only 10,140 people in the HSBC Arena stands -- it holds 18,690 -- Tuesday night didn't lessen the Sabres' enthusiasm as they tried to keep a firm hold on the Philadelphia Flyers.

Buffalo earned a 2-1 victory over Philly, its fifth consecutive win in the series -- sixth if you include the Sabres' series-clinching win two springs ago in the first round.

And even more important than beating the Flyers once again was the fact that the Sabres managed to snap a three-game winless streak (0-2-1) and pick up their third triumph of the young season.

"We had to win here tonight," Center Chris Gratton told the Buffalo News. "We had to play desperate, and I think we did a good job of that tonight. Now if we're able to win Friday, it turns into a good homestand."

Both teams played rather evenly for two periods of play before a third stanza that saw the Sabres outshoot the Flyers by a 13-6 margin. It was midway through that final frame that Philly killer Miroslav Satan took advantage of an offensive zone turnover to snap a 1-1 deadlock.

Philadelphia defenseman Eric Weinrich scored the equalizer on the power play 8:13 into the second, but his muffed pass attempt directly led to Satan's tally. The veteran rearguard skated back into his own end and tried to outlet a pass to partner Kim Johnsson, who was heading up ice. Weinrich fanned on the puck and Satan stole it, skated in on net and wristed a shot through the legs of goaltender Roman Cechmanek. Satan scored six goals and eight total points versus Philadelphia last season.

Buffalo's first goal also came as a result of a Flyer miscue, as Vaclav Varada beat Cechmanek 2:47 into the second after Dan McGillis' clearing pass went right to Gratton. Varada deflected Gratton's ensuing shot into the cage.

"That's something we wanted to do all night, force their "D' and create some turnovers," Gratton said.

The timely offense by the Sabre forwards helped goaltender Martin Biron pick up his third victory of the season with 22 saves. He was kept busy until the very end too, as the Flyers put forth a last-ditch effort in the waning seconds with the extra attacker. Biron smothered the puck and kept it out of harm's way.

Gratton's assist on Varada's tally was his seventh of the season, which places him fourth in the NHL, and gives him a team-high 10 points. The oft-criticized centerman, who has not sniffed the potential that surrounded him as a youngster, has at least a point in all but one of the Sabres' five games to this point.

UP NEXT

The Sabres cap off a four-game homestand on Friday against New Jersey before embarking on a six-game road trip. That venture begins on Saturday night in Pittsburgh and also includes stops in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Columbus and Carolina.