Flyers Dominate The Depleted & Lifeless Sabres
The Philadelphia Flyers dominated the Buffalo Sabres Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Three goals in both the first and second period fueled the Flyers 6-1 victory.
Three goals in a span of 4:01 gave the Flyers an 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Vorobyev, van Riemsdyk, & Niskanen scored with Kevin Hayes setting up the latter two with beautiful behind the back passes.
Three goals in a span of 4:07 gave the Flyers an 6-0 lead heading into the second intermission. Provorov, Pitlick, & van Riemsdyk scored to finish off the Flyers route of the Sabres.
Carter Hart stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced. The only one getting by him coming on a double deflection.
Flyers vs Sabres 10 Loose Pucks…
The Flyers ended a streak tonight. Well, sort of. Sabres superstar, Jack Eichel, entered tonight’s matchup on a 17-game point streak. But, unfortunately for Eichel, that streak came to an end due to an upper-body injury that kept him from playing tonight.
Mikhail Vorobyev scored his 2nd career goal in the NHL in the 1st period. But, luck must be on Vorobyev’s side because neither of his two goals have been his doing. Both his goals have came by opposing team own goals.
With Eichel out, Kevin Hayes took advantage of a matchup he didn’t expect tonight. Losing their top center, Hayes went up against 5-11 Johan Larsson instead of 6-1 Marcus Johansson. Hayes outmuscled Larsson to setup up the Flyers 2nd goal and was all over the Larsson line all night.
Ivan Provorov continues to evolve in-front of our very eyes. The Flyers top defenseman didn’t need his normal 24+minute night. But, that didn’t stop Provorov from still playing 23+minutes and scoring a goal on the power-play with a “twisted-wrister” from the point.
Another win and more points for the Flyers in a Carter Hart home start. Dating back to Hart’s only regulation loss at home, Oct 19 vs DAL, the Flyers are 8-0-2 in Hart’s last 10 home starts. Including winning his last 6 home starts.
Travis Konecny has been a breath of fresh air to the Flyers since his return. After going 0-3-0 & scoring only 5 goals in Konecny’s absence, the Flyers have erupted for 4 and 6 goal performances in the two games since returning. Konecny has assisted on 4 of those 10 goals.
With seven NHL caliber defensemen on the roster, one guy has to sit on a nightly basis. Phil Myers has been that guy recently. But, tonight Myers returned to the lineup for Robert Hagg. In his return, Myers played 16:36 and made his presence known earlier. Assisting on the Flyers first goal.
Tyler Pitlick returned to the lineup as well from his sinus infection that was believed to be a concussion. With the confusion behind him, Pitlick was the most notable Flyer tonight. Scoring a goal and adding 5 shots on net.
Home ice advantage has been very good to the Flyers this season. With another win tonight, the Flyers improve to 12-2-4 at home this season and points in 14 of their last 15 homes games, 10-1-4.
With the NHL roster freeze taking effect tonight at midnight, the Flyers will may send down one player to the Phantoms. If they do, expect one of David Kase, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, or Andy Andreoff to be sent down with Joel Farabee due to return from suspension Monday.
Result : Flyers 6 – Sabres 1 , WIN
Record : 19 – 11 – 5
Next Game : 12/21 Ottawa Senators, Ottawa Canada, NBCSports+ Philadelphia 7:00pm