Flyers Shake Off Loss to Leafs Blank Buffalo 4-Zip

Date Published: 1-9-2023

Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder

This was an important bounce-back game for the Flyers as they shutout the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 4-0. The Flyers spent Sunday night being their own worst enemy as they fell apart in the wake of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Tonight was a much different story, of course Buffalo is also a much different opponent. It was a very solid win for the Flyers just the same.

The game started out pretty wide open. The Flyers were getting tons of chances but every so often things would break down and turn into an odd man rush for the Sabres. Samuel Ersson was in the net for the Flyers tonight. It was another strong outing for him, this time resulting in a shutout. He wasn’t tested often in the 1st but when he was he came up big. The scoring opened when Nickolas Deslauriers passed the puck from behind the Sabres net to Zack MacEwen who just kind of forced it past the goaltender. Their line has been working relentlessly in a number of different situations and it’s good to see them getting a couple goals over the past two nights.

Joel Farabee scored on a long bouncing pass from Travis Sanheim that found him entering the zone with plenty of time to choose his shot. Noah Cates sent home a rebound off a Travis Konecny attempt, it was T.K.’s second assist of the period. Konecny continues to rack up the points, he’s playing the best hockey of his career. The Flyers outshot the Sabres in the first period 16-5 and went into the first intermission ahead 3-0.

The second period things settled down with both teams being much more careful at both ends of the ice. The Sabres started the third period with a renewed sense of urgency but Ersson continued to keep them off the board. Just over two minutes in Wade Allison pushed a Kevin Hayes shot over the goal line putting the Flyers up by four and deflating Buffalo’s renewed energy level. The Flyers did an efficient job protecting their lead which is something they’ve been working on as of late.

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With about six minutes left in regulation the Sabres took a few too many whacks at a puck that Ersson seemed to have frozen. A ballyhoo ensued in front of the Flyers net. It continued around the Flyers net, then behind it, and then up against the boards. As this game was winding down the Flyers were a team protecting a shutout, standing up for their goaltender, standing up for each other, and standing up for themselves.…Now that’s the way you want to bounce back.