The Philadelphia Flyers went on the road to start their sixth set of back-to-back games of the season. Their first stop was Buffalo, New York, to take on the Sabres. Dan Vladar got the start in net. Jamie Drysdale returned from injury and joined the defense, and Nicolas Deslauriers came in for the still-injured Brink. Denver Barkey became a healthy scratch, and Rasmus Ristolainen is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The struggles for the Flyers continued as they suffered a five-to-two loss. They were outperformed all game long, though they had chances throughout the night. The orange and black dropped to 22-15-8 on the season.
The Flyers got the game’s first power play at the 1:52 mark of the first period as Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen got called for hooking. Jason Zucker served the penalty. Luukkonen only had to make one save on Trevor Zegras, and the Sabres were able to clear the puck down the ice a few times.
Cam York was called for cross-checking at the 9:16 mark of the first, which gave the Sabres their first power play. It only took the Sabres 13 seconds to capitalize. Rasmus Dahlin’s snapshot from the high slot went past the blocker of Vladar. A nice pass by Josh Doan set him up. 1-0 Sabres. Doan and Tage Thompson tallied assists.
The Sabres took a 2-0 lead at the 15:13 mark of the first period courtesy of Mattias Samuelsson. He took a pass from Noah Ostlund and put a snapshot past the blocker of Vladar from the slot. This happened after Zegras turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Ostlund and Doan picked up assists.
Sam Ersson came in to replace Vladar in net to start the second period. Vladar looked to have hurt himself on the Dahlin goal.
The Sabres went on their second power play at the 2:05 mark of the second period as Zegras got called for hooking. Ersson came up with a big save on Thompson, and the Sabres weren’t able to connect on a few passes. The Flyers also did a great job of clearing the puck down.
Jack Quinn gave the Sabres a 3-0 lead at the 4:22 mark of the second. Ryan McLeod, from below the goal line, found Quinn in front of the net, and he put a snapshot over the glove of Ersson. McLeod and Zach Benson were given assists.
Owen Tippett got the Flyers on the board at the 10:28 mark of the second period. He took a pass from Noah Cates in center and put a snapshot past the glove of Luukkonen from the high slot. This came off a Sabres turnover. Cates received the lone assist.
The Sabres got their third power play at the 12:44 mark of the second as Travis Konecny was called for tripping. They’d capitalize again thanks to Dahlin. Josh Norris made a nice pass to Dahlin, who was in the slot, and he put a snapshot under the glove of Ersson. Ersson was screened by Zucker in front. This made the score 4-1, Sabres. Assists went to Norris and Thompson.
The Flyers went on their second power play at the 19:14 mark of the second period as Benson got called for cross-checking. A few shots went just wide, and Luukkkonen had to make a save on York. However, right as the period ended, Hathaway was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. The third period started on a four-on-four, and then the Sabres got an abbreviated power play.
The Sabres played a game of keep away, and Drysdale managed to block a shot. Ersson also made a big save on Zucker. Nothing much is going on here.
Konecny got called for slashing at the 3:35 mark of the third period, which gave the Sabres their fourth power play. It shortly went to four-on-four as Bowen Byram got called for tripping. No shots were recorded for either team, and there were a few blocked shots.
The Flyers received their fourth power play at the 6:47 mark of the third as Zach Metsa was called for hooking. They capitalized on this opportunity as Konecny’s pass from the side of the net went off Zegras’s skate and past the left pad of Luukkonen. 4-2 Sabres. Konecny and Tippett tallied assists.
Nick Seeler got called for roughing at the 13:22 mark of the third period. This gave the Sabres their sixth power play. The Flyers did their job of clearing the puck down the ice, and Ersson came up with a big save on Quinn.
The Flyers pulled Ersson with 3:19 left in the third in favor of the extra attacker, with them down by three. Byram was called for holding at the 17:45 mark, so the Flyers received their fifth power play. They kept Ersson pulled to go six-on-four. The Sabres blocked quite a few shots, and they couldn’t get any pucks past Luukkonen.
However, McLeod scored a shorthanded empty-net goal with 40 seconds to go in the game to give the Sabres a 5-2 lead. Matvei Michkov tried to keep the puck in the offensive zone with one hand but couldn’t. Alex Tuch passed the puck to McLeod, and he put a wrist shot into the empty net. Tuch was given the lone assist.
Flyers went one for five on the power play and killed off four of the six Sabres man advantages.
Vladar saved 3 of 5 shots, giving him a .600 save percentage. Ersson saved 6 of 8 shots in replacement.
Goal Summary
1st Period:
Dahlin (5) (Power Play) Assists: Doan (17), Thompson (21)
Samuelsson (8) Assists: Ostlund (6), Doan (18)
2nd Period:
Quinn (10) Assists: McLeod (19), Benson (16)
Tippett (15) Assists: Cates (15)
Dahlin (6) (Power Play) Assists: Norris (11), Thompson (22)
3rd Period:
Zegras (18) (Power Play) Assists: Konecny (25), Tippett (13)
McLeod (10) (Empty Net) Assists: Tuch (23)
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