The point streak stops at five games. The Philadelphia Flyers (17-10-6) dropped what seemed to be a gimme against the Buffalo Sabres (15-14-4), losing 5-3 Thursday night at KeyBank Center.
Philadelphia controlled the entirety of the first half of the game and piled on a lopsided 28-6 scoring attempt difference after the opening period. The Flyers’ penalty kill locked in preventing the Sabres twice from finding the back of the net up until the halfway marker during the second period. Cam York netted his second goal of the season minutes later off a nice setup pass from Trevor Zegras to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Philadelphia held all the momentum then poof, gone. The Sabres scored three consecutive goals and stole a win right out of the Flyers’ hands.
It’s gotten to the point where the Flyers allowing the first goal is to be expected. Out of the 33 games played so far, the Flyers have given up the initial goal on 23 occasions. Obviously playing from behind isn’t ideal, but when 12 of those matchups end in triumph for the Flyers, the fans and players can live with it. When trailing results in a defeat and an inspired comeback tanks, especially to a bottom-feeder team like Buffalo, it stinks.
The Sabres got out in front on a shot from Mattias Samuelsson that Jack Quinn redirected down low. For Quinn, it’s his sixth goal in nine outings against the Flyers.
Buffalo even gifted Philadelphia a chance to get out to an early lead once Rasmus Dahlin hooked Christian Dvorak 18 seconds into the contest. The Flyers’ power play, which entered five for their last 45 on the man advantage, couldn’t capitalize yet again.
In Flyers fashion and under a minute after Quinn broke the scoreless bid, the Flyers tied the game up. Bobby Brink maintained puck possession with Tage Thompson defending him along the boards and he managed to break free of the two-time 40-goal scorer. Brink fed a backhand pass through four Sabres over to Noah Cates between the hashmarks, who then snapped a shot over former Flyers netminder Alex Lyon.
Although the Flyers killed off both penalties in the beginning of the second period, the tide was definitely shifting in favor of the Sabres. Buffalo had seven shots on Sam Ersson and even after York scored to put the Flyers ahead 2-1, the Sabres kept pestering.
Travis Sanheim kept his head down and didn’t see Sean Couturier trying to gain an advantage on his clearing attempt, a play the Flyers’ captain probably shouldn’t have gone with. Dahlin pinched in to pick off the puck and drove towards Ersson with momentum. A drop pass from the 2018 first overall pick in a dangerous spot on the ice to Thompson ended in what was to be expected: a goal.
The Sabres maintained the forecheck and stabilized the ability to set up shop in the Flyers’ defensive zone. Alex Tuch threaded a pass between Zegras and Travis Konecny to Noah Östlund. The Swedish forward snapped a shot through traffic to send the Sabres to the second intermission on top 3-2.
Having a .545 win percentage trailing after two periods, the Flyers seemed like they had Buffalo where they wanted them. Then came the penalties. Brink clipped Michael Kesselring up high which awarded the Sabres their fourth power play. Unlike the Flyers, the Sabres took advantage of the situation with Zach Benson retrieving the puck and essentially stunned to see the amount of open ice Philadelphia gave Josh Norris. In his seventh game of the year, Norris’ third tally of the season proved to be the game-winner.
Konecny reached double digits on the year in the goal column when he cut Buffalo’s lead to one with 5:32 left in the third period, giving the Flyers a glimmer of hope.
The ultimate difference proved to be the Flyers’ inability to come through on the power play. Philadelphia went 0-for-3 and hasn’t scored on the man advantage in 16 attempts. Even on a 6-on-4 with Ersson pulled in the dying seconds of the game, the Flyers had nothing to show for it. Ryan McLeod would eventually ice the game scoring on the vacant cage.
Finding offensive success is a struggle for the Flyers. The team can’t keep relying on Zegras who now has 13 points in his last 11 outings and continues to stay above a point per game pace. He’s landed on the scoresheet over his previous six games too.
The Flyers close out a four-game road stand with a trip to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers (17-15-4). The opening faceoff is set for 12:30 pm ET on Saturday afternoon.
