Photo: Rob Windfelder | Flyers Nitty Gritty
For ice hockey fans this was just a fun game to watch. It had it all. Tons of energy, great goaltending, hard hitting, fast moving, both teams aggressively playing to win. The Flyers won their 3rd in a row after dropping their 1st 9. Flyers beat Sabres 3-1. It was the 1st road win of the season for the Orange and Black.
Philly vs Buffalo
The Flyers hit the opening seconds of this match on the attack. They took an early penalty and the Sabres took control of the puck and ran the game for a bit at that point.
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar was called on again and again to withstand the barrage. The Flyers went for 10 minutes without a shot on goal as Buffalo gave it their best shot. However there was no solving Dan Vladar.
The 1st period was punctuated with some huge hits and Cole Knuble’s first NHL goal. Denver Barkey back to Oliver Bonk at the point. Bonk unleashed the shot from the blue line. The rebound went to Knuble who backhanded his first as a Flyer past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen 14:49 into the opening period.
With just 41 seconds remaining in the period the Flyers scored on the power-play. Trevor Zegras batted in the rebound off a Matvei Michkov shot to send the Flyers into the intermission with the 2-0 lead.
2nd Period
The Flyers started the middle period with 1:59 of power-play time remaining. Buffalo had the best chance on the Flyers man-advantage, hitting the post on the rush.
You have to give this second round to Buffalo. They were relentless, spending several prolonged puck possessions in the Flyers end.
Things went on this way for most of the period. The Flyers went on a power-play and then picked up a lucky call to give them 1:12 of 5-on-3 with 4:28 remaining in the 2nd period.
An on ice official mistook Zegras’s high stick as belonging to a Sabre and the crowd was furious for the duration of the two man advantage.
The Sabres pulled off an excellent kill allowing just one shot on the 5-on-3 and one more on the 5-on-4.
Back at even strength Travis Sanheim picked up a legit high stick call and Buffalo scored on the ensuing power-play with just 34.5 seconds remaining in the period. Jason Zucker redirecting a wild pass from the top of the crease. 2-1 Flyers.
3rd Period
Just 3:03 into the final period Cole Knuble scored his 2nd NHL goal. He picked up a pass from Oliver Bonk and skated in up the right hand side. Luukkonen had the angle cut off. Knuble was patient with the puck, did not fire a shot, and appeared to be headed behind the Buffalo net. He shot the puck from below the goal line off the back of the netminder’s skate to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead.
The young guys ruled the roost in this solid Philadelphia win. Knuble with two goals, Bonk with two assists. Hunter McDonald with several big hits and another solid performance. Also a huge outing for Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar giving up just one goal on 28 Buffalo shots. Some of the stops he made in this game were flat out remarkable.
Next Up: The annual visit from the Ducks Saturday afternoon at 1PM.
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