PHILADELPHIA: Buffalo's Tyler Ennis fired in his second goal of the game in overtime to give the Sabres a 4-3 road win at the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL playoffs Friday. Ennis skated into a rebound off the pad of Flyers backup goalie Michael Leighton and smashed the winner into the open net to give the Sabres a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven series, with game six scheduled for Sunday in Buffalo. “I saw it pop out,” Ennis told reporters. “I tried to get to the net. I knew (Mike Weber) was shooting it – just hoping he (Leighton) would kick it to me.” In the other game Saturday, the Nashville Predators stormed back for a 4-3 OT away win over the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center to grab a 3-2 series lead of their own. Ennis scored the Sabres first of three first-period goals, Buffalo racing to a 3-0 lead and chasing Philadelphia starter Brian Boucher from the net. The goaltending change sparked Philadelphia, who roared back to tie the score early in the third period on goals by James van Riemsdyk and Andrei Meszaros in the second before Daniel Briere's equaliser. “In the second period I thought that everybody looked strong,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “We had our best period of the night. We were hard-charging, trying to fight back. We felt like if we could win that period, we could win the game. The guys did a really good job at unloading the tanks and getting back in.” Tomas Vanek and Marc-Andre Gragnani also scored for Buffalo. Predators 4, Ducks 3, OT: Jerred Smithson's goal 1:57 into overtime moved Nashville to the brink of winning a playoff series for the first time, with a 3-2 series lead over Anaheim. Captain Shea Weber tied it on a long slap shot with 35.3 seconds left for the Predators, who had never even won three games in a series before their dramatic comeback stunned the Ducks. Both teams scored two goals apiece in a thrilling third period, with Anaheim blowing two leads. Bobby Ryan scored a spectacular goal early in the third in his return from a two-game suspension, but Joel Ward tied it with 8:40 left. Jason Blake put Anaheim ahead on his second goal with 5:44 left. Defenseman Kevin Klein scored his first career playoff goal and Pekka Rinne made 23 saves for the Predators, who had never won an overtime game or a Game 5 in their brief playoff history. Game 6 is Sunday in Nashville.
