"He's a warrior," said goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who allowed a soft goal to Thomas Vanek but blanked Buffalo over the final 50 minutes, 30 seconds. "He pays the price in front of the net, and that's why he was awarded with the goals."
"In front of the net, no one can move him," said Claude Giroux, the shifty center who also had a sensational night. "He gets those garbage goals and people think it's easy, but it's actually pretty hard."
Giroux had a career-high five assists, one shy of the club record set by Eric Lindros in 1997. The last Flyer to have five assists in a game was Alexandre Picard in 2007.
"Everything I was chipping [to his teammates] was going into the net," Giroux said after increasing his point total to 67, two behind league leader Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins. "All the boys played great."
Scott Hartnell added four points (goal, three assists) for the Flyers.
The Flyers, who notched just their second win in the last seven games, erased a 2-0 deficit with four second-period goals, highlighted by the power-play scores from the blistering Simmonds, who has seven goals in his last eight games. (Simmonds' mouth was badly swollen after the game, and he could not speak with reporters.)
Rookie defenseman Erik Gustafsson scored a second-period goal, the first of his NHL career. Gustafsson took a slick drop pass from Jakub Voracek and fired a right-circle shot inside the left post and past relief goalie Ryan Miller.
"One of the best feelings I've ever had in my life," said a smiling Gustafsson, who hopes to stay in the lineup when newly acquired Nicklas Grossman arrives.
