DON’T GET ME STARTED knew that something had to give in this game between Buffalo and Philadelphia. Both teams were in last place in their respective divisions, not having won in the last 3 games.
The Flyers entered the game in 11th place in the Conference while Buffalo sat in #14 with Philadelphia having 2 more points than Buffalo 23-21.
When it was all over, it was Philadelphia that ended its losing streak. Whatever was said to the Flyers players after they lost to Boston Saturday worked. Maybe Ron Rolston could get a tape of the conversation since nothing seems to be working for Buffalo. They can’t seem to make up ground on teams above them.
The 3-2 loss wasn’t really in much doubt as Buffalo played its inconsistent game.
The Sabres played probably its worst first period of the season as they did absolutely nothing, falling behind 2-0 on a Flyers power play and then on a shorthanded goal. Buffalo didn’t get a shot on goal for over 11 minutes to start the game and wound up getting only 4 shots on Ilya Bryzgalov, the Flyers goalie.
Philadelphia scored a pair of power play goals and a shorthanded goal and Buffalo simply didn’t respond to the physical play of the Flyers – save for a couple of players including the smallest of them all….Nathan Gerbe. But it seemed that Philadelphia won all the battles in the corners and along the boards.
The Flyers scored first on a power play after Regier went to the box for high sticking at 3:29. Tikonen sent a pass to Simon Gagne who came in on Miller and beat him with a slap shot from between the circles at 4:31. The puck went through Miller and trickled into the cage.
Buffalo then went on a power play but it backfired when Maxime Talbot scored a shorthanded goal at 8:47 to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead.
The Sabres closed to within a goal at 11:43 when Brian Flynn scored his 2nd goal of the season in his second game on an assist from his Rochester team-mate Porter and it was 2-1. At 19:02 Jochen Hecht took a penalty that will stretch into the second period.
It didn’t take long for the Flyers to restore the 2-goal lead on the power play to open the middle stanza. 17 seconds after the faceoff, the puck went to Timonen who got the puck to Claude Giroux who beat Miller with a snap shot that many would say should have been stopped. That made the score 3-1.
Once again, late in the period – Ott was whistled for interference at 19:48 and the Flyers will open the final 20 minutes on a power play.
The Sabres killed off the Flyers power play but at 4:01 Drew Stafford went into the box to put the Flyers on another power play. However, that led to the Sabres getting a short-handed goal when Jochen Hecht managed to get it by Bryzgalov at 4:32 to make it a one goal game with Philadelphia ahead 3-2.
The Sabres couldn’t get the equalizer and the winless streak continues as they now slip to 9-12-3.
Filed under: Don't Get Me Started
Tagged with: All Sports, Art Wander, Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Sports, NHL, Philadelphia Flyers, Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek
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