BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- The Philadelphia Flyers have been thinking a lot about their cancer-stricken coach. Roger Neilson would prefer they focus on hockey.

	Buffalo's Maxim Afinogenov, right, converts a perfect pass as he beats Philadelphia goalie Brian Boucher.

"Roger said before the game: 'If you guys are still worried about this, don't be.' We're grownups, and we shouldn't be dwelling on it," rookie goaltender Brian Boucher said after the Flyers' 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. "It shouldn't be an excuse."

It didn't help that injured center and faceoff expert Eric Lindros and goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck missed the game.

Nor did it make things easier that the Sabres just happened to play one of their best games of the season.

Maxim Afinogenov, Michal Grosek and Jason Woolley scored for the Sabres and rookie goalie Martin Biron continued to impress in place of injured Dominik Hasek with 23 saves for his 11th win.

"That's what we're working on, playing a solid game," Grosek said. "There will be ups and downs. That's just the way it works."

Philadelphia lost its second straight game since Neilson announced last week he has bone cancer. He is expected to begin chemotherapy Wednesday.

The 65-year-old coach, who is to undergo several months of chemotherapy and then get a bone marrow transplant in March, disposed of the subject quickly after the game.

"Good thanks," he said when asked how he felt physically. "Feeling real good."

Vanbiesbrouck was given a rest and Lindros sat out with soreness in his injured left hand, which was taped and still swollen before the game.

Both players were missed, but Neilson's welfare continued to dwarf all other problems.

"We know he has a big fight ahead of him," forward Mark Recchi said. "But he loves hockey, and the best thing we can do for him is to win."

But the Flyers couldn't move the puck effectively without Lindros or keep it out of their net without Vanbiesbrouck. Lindros was injured in the third period of Saturday night's 6-4 loss at Toronto.

Recchi scored a power-play goal for the Flyers to cut Buffalo's lead to 2-1 early in the third period, before Woolley's goal off a faceoff just before the five-minute mark iced it.

"It was a big win for us," said Woolley, whose team's major concern was a power play that has produced one goal in its last 37 tries. But the Sabres didn't need a power-play goal this time.

The Flyers won 27 faceoffs and lost 46 to the opportunistic Sabres.

"They're a good faceoff team to begin with, and we had a tough time with them the last game even with Eric there, so tonight they won some key ones," Neilson said.

The Sabres ended Boucher's five-game winning streak in which he stopped 100 of 109 shots. It was the first start on the road for Boucher, who went into the game with a 2.09 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.

Buffalo's Brian Holzinger had two assists. He set up the first goal when he carried the puck into the zone, stickhandled through the defense and flipped the puck across to Afinogenov for the rookie's eighth goal at 8:54.

The goal came just seconds after Biron stopped a breakaway by Recchi when the Flyers points leader deked him to one side and shifted to his forehand but couldn't lift the puck over the goalie's outstretched pad.

The Sabres went up 2-0 with 38 seconds left in the second period when Grosek tipped in a blast from the point by defenseman Cory Sarich. Boucher failed to clear the puck from the zone, and Miroslav Satan fed Sarich from the corner.

Recchi scored his 14th goal on a give-and-go with Simon Gagne with Richard Smehlik in the box for high sticking.

The Sabres restored their two-goal lead when Woolley blasted the puck over Boucher's shoulder from the circle at 4:50.