The Philadelphia Flyers (15-8-3) defeated the Buffalo Sabres (11-12-4), 5-2, in regulation on Wednesday night.
This game was an excellent response for two reasons. One, this was a great response after dropping a disappointing matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night where they lost, 5-1. They also lost Tyson Foerster, their leading goal scorer in that game. It has been confirmed that he will miss 2-3 months due to an upper-body injury. Despite all of this, the Flyers scored five times, by five different players. Additionally, many of their goal scorers were players that needed to step up their game, and they did just that.
Rising to the Occasion
There were a lot of excellent highlights between individuals rising to the occasion, as well as their special teams. Travis Konecny, Trevor Zegras, Bobby Brink, Noah Cates, and Owen Tippett all potted a goal in the victory. It’s also important to note that Nikita Grebenkin, who earned a secondary assist on Brink’s goal, did not look out of place in the top-nine.
The penalty kill, which gave up goals on 3 of 4 chances against the Penguins on Monday night, responded well. After giving up a goal on their first opportunity, they would go on to play the next penalty kills perfectly, finishing 5/6 on the night. The power play, while it still had some struggles, struck twice, going 2/5 on the night as well.
Lastly, but certainly not least, was the play of Sam Ersson. The Flyers goaltender was stellar, making several key saves and stopping 27 of 29 shots, finishing with a .931 SV%.
In last night’s game, the Flyers bounced back in many key areas, which sparks enough hope that they will be okay over the next few months without Tyson Foerster.
“You know, next man up type of thing. Ty [Foerster] is in there with the guys high-fiving and stuff like that. You know, guys feel bad for him. It’s going to be some weeks, two months, whatever it’s going to be. We have some guys that we talked about, can we play 5% better to help the loss of having a guy like that.” – Rick Tocchet; 12/3/2025
FIRST PERIOD
Shots: 11-4 Flyers
Score: 3-1 Flyers
Death, taxes, and the Flyers giving up the first goal. To almost no one’s surprise, the Flyers gave up the first goal. Cam York was sent to the box for delay of game, after trying to clear the puck out of their end. Buffalo wasted little time, and executed on a nice tic-tac-toe. Jason Zucker scored from the slot, his 8th of the season. Fortunately, for the Flyers, this would be the last lead the Sabres had all game.
A Few minutes later, Travis Konecny would score on the powerplay. It was his 6th on the season, and it was a pretty one. After some puck movement between Matvei Michkov and Travis Sanheim, Konecny would send an accurate wrister from the top of the left circle, picking a corner to tie the game up. This would be one of three goals scored in 59 seconds. For whatever reason, the Flyers as of late have been scoring in bunches, and it happened again last night.
As it was alluded to, the Flyers would strike again, and quickly take the lead back. The Flyers were able to do this within five minutes of game time. For this goal, it would Zegras with his 1oth of the year, also on a powerplay. It was a very fluky goal that was an intended pass turned ricocheted puck that somehow beat the Sabres netminder. Just like that, the Flyers would take a 2-1 lead.
They were not done yet though, as it was now Bobby Brink’s turn to score for the Flyers, who banged home a rebound off of a Cates shot. It was a great goal that featured Cates pouncing on a turnover, and Grebenkin making a slick feed to give Cates the shot that led to Brink’s goal. It’s the kind of stuff you are looking for from a player who is being given a chance in the top-nine. In just under a minute, the Flyers led 3-1.
Brink, who has had just 1 point in his last 12 games, was relieved to have made an impact on the night (1g, 1a).
“Yeah I mean, it’s not really fun scoring one point in twelve games. It’s one game so, probably should start scoring more in the other ones” – Bobby Brink; 12/3/2025
SECOND PERIOD
Shots: 23-18 Flyers
Score: 4-1 Flyers
The Flyers would start on the power play this period, and score just after it expired. This time, it was Noah Cates off of an excellent feed from Brink, who swung right from the top of the zone, going downhill and made an excellent cross-crease pass. It was Cates’ 6th of the season, and the Flyers found themselves with a 4-1 lead just under two minutes into the second period.
However, from this point on, the Sabres would begin to hem the Flyers in their own end. After a killing a penalty, Buffalo defenseman Bowen Byram scored his 6th of the season. All of a sudden, this became a two-goal game with a lot of time left. Despite Ersson giving up this goal, he had stopped a slew of high-danger scoring chances. This game could have been a lot closer if Ersson was not as sharp as he was last evening.
At least, that’s what the Sabres (probably) thought. Because just 55 seconds later, the forward line of Michkov-Couturier-Tippett would connect to reestablish their three-goal lead on the night. A combination of excellent work behind the net by Sean Couturier, an unreal no-look pass from Michkov, and the finish by goal scorer Owen Tippett restored there multi-goal lead. It was truly a thing of beauty but also another excellent response. Now with less than 10 minutes to go in the second period, the Flyers held a 5-2 lead.
A closer look at Michkov’s pass.
This would be the last (official) goal scored on the night. With a few minutes remaining in the period, Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin laid a dangerous hit on the Flyers’ best forward, Trevor Zegras. Fortunately, he appeared to be okay after going face-first into the boards. The Flyers skaters, of course, responded accordingly. This resulted in Dahlin receiving a five-minute major, plus a game misconduct.
Flyers defenseman Cam York appeared to sustain an injury, and left in the second period and did not return in the third. The Flyers officially reported York as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Hopefully, it is just that. Some have speculated that the clip below was what resulted in his injury.
THIRD PERIOD
Shots: 35-26 Flyers
Final Score: 5-2 Flyers
No official scores in this period, but after the opposing team largely outplayed them in the second period, the Flyers responded well. Sure, the Sabres continued to push, but the Flyers did as well. The Flyers would commit two more penalties and kill both of those off.
Later the Sabres, for a brief moment, scored on a rebound making the game 5-3. Rick Tocchet used his timeout to take more time to review the goal, and ultimately challenged it for offsides and won. I am sure Ersson was appreciative of this, who despite playing well would have still given up a third goal. Additionally, the call on the ice was very dramatic and entertaining for the fans in the building.
He wouldn’t score on this play, but it was another reminder that the Flyers have a budding star in Michkov. Skating into the offensive zone, a Sabres skater challenged him. Michkov was able to toe drag around him and release a nice wrist shot that the goalie had to fight off. This building is going to be electric once these start to go in.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will continue their six-game homestand, and will face off against the Colorado Avalanche at the Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday, December 7th (1:00pm/ET; NBCSP).
