Despite outskating, outshooting and outchancing their opponents for most of the game, the Buffalo Sabres had to work overtime to put away Robert Esche and the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final series Saturday night in Buffalo.

Daniel Briere scored at 7:31 of the second extra period to give the Sabres a 3-2 win and help them overcome a 55-save performance by Esche, who was coming off an inconsistent regular season during which he split time with Antero Nittymaki.

"My first thought? You can't write it," Esche said of the loss. "I'm focused on seven games. I'm focused on leaving this one behind."

Buffalo's Daniel Briere celebrates his game-winner in double overtime. (Don Heupel/Associated Press)

During a delayed penalty, Briere tipped a pass from Jochen Hecht past Esche for the game-winner.

"I saw Jochen going around their player and my eyes got a little big, and I was just hoping he'd see me backdoor," said Briere, who finished with a team-record 14 shots. "I had missed enough chances already tonight. I couldn't give Eschey another freebie."

Tim Connolly and Jay McKee also scored for Buffalo, while Ryan Miller made 30 saves in his first career NHL playoff game.

Mike Knuble and Simon Gagne tallied for Philadelphia, which overcame a 2-0 deficit to force overtime on Gagne's goal with 1:51 left in regulation.

The Sabres failed to put the game out of reach partly due to a struggling power play. Surprisingly, Buffalo, which finished the season ranked third in the league in power-play efficiency, went 0-for-9 Saturday with the man advantage.

The game featured a fair amount of jostling after the whistle along with some solid body-checking by both the bigger, more physical Flyers and the smaller, speedier Sabres.

Philadelphia forward R.J. Umberger was forced to leave the game in the first overtime after being levelled with his head down at the Flyers blueline by Sabres defenceman Brian Campbell.

Umberger appeared dazed and glassy-eyed as he was helped off the ice. But he was seen walking around the Flyers' dressing room after the game, and Philadelphia coach Ken Hitchcock said Umberger was "good to go."

Game 2 of the series goes Monday in Buffalo.

Connolly opened the scoring just over a quarter of the way into the first period when he stripped Peter Forsberg of the puck in front of the Flyers' net and flicked a backhand shot past a sprawling Esche.

The Flyers killed off a 5-on-3 advantage for Buffalo early in the second but, a few minutes later, McKee put his team up 2-0 when his point shot hit the stick of Philadelphia's Mike Richards and flew over the shoulder of Esche.

With the Sabres outshooting the Flyers by a 3-to-1 margin late in the second period, the Flyers top line of Forsberg, Gagne and Knuble finally got going, buzzing around the Buffalo zone before Knuble slammed in a rebound off a point shot to cut the lead to 2-1.

Dating back to the regular season, it was the first time the Sabres had allowed a goal in almost 198 minutes.

The Knuble goal seemed to give the previously sluggish Flyers some momentum as they generated several scoring chances in the closing minutes of the second. But, despite a penalty to McKee with just over a minute to go in the frame, Philadelphia couldn't cut into Buffalo's lead before the intermission.

The Sabres generated a number of chances in the third but botched a series of 2-on-1's and other good opportunities with errant passes. With most of the action taking place in their end, the Flyers didn't register their first shot of the period until 13 minutes had elapsed.

As they did in the second period, the Flyers picked up their play toward the end of the third and tied the game on a power-play goal by Gagne after Sabres defenceman Toni Lydman received a penalty for shooting the puck into the crowd.

With Esche's save total surpassing the half-century mark toward the end of the first overtime, the Flyers goalie made several brilliant stops as the Sabres enjoyed back-to-back power-play chances, including a sprawling pad save on a wraparound attempt by Chris Drury.

Buffalo could have picked up more power plays as it appeared on three occasions that Philadelphia had too many men on the ice, but no penalties were called.

with files from Associated Press