FLYERS STAGE 8TH THIRD-PERIOD COMEBACK OF SEASON, WIN UGLY IN BUFFALO
It was not exactly artistic and it took three goals in the final six-and-a-half minutes of the game to accomplish their objective, but the Philadelphia Flyers skated off with a 4-3 regulation victory on the road against the Buffalo Sabres. The victory halted Philly's two-game losing skid.
Scott Hartnell, who briefly left the bench after taking a puck off his foot while blocking a shot, led the Flyers with a power-play goal and two assists. Philly also got tallies from Jakub Voracek (power play), Brayden Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier.
Lecavalier's game-winning goal with 14.8 seconds left in regulation was his first non-shootout goal since a late-game goal in his return to Tampa Bay on Nov. 27. Not counting the nine games the veteran missed in December with a back injury, Lecavalier had gone 13 games without a goal. However, he did notch game-winning shootout goals against Nashville on Nov. 30 and Vancouver on Dec. 30.
Wayne Simmonds had two assists in the game. Over his last 14 games, he has generated 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points. Hartnell (five goals, nine assists in the last 14 games) and Brayden Schenn (five goals, four assists in the last nine games) have also thrived since the trio was put together as a line.
Tonight's win in Buffalo marked the eighth time this season -- all since early December -- that the Flyers have come back to win a game after trailing at some point in the third period. The all-time franchise record is nine.
The Flyers dominated on special teams in this game which was arguably the biggest factor that contributed to the win. Philly went 2-for-6 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Philadelphia now has the NHL's fifth-ranked road power play (23-for-94, 24.5 percent), which has pulled the club's overall rating to 15th in the league (18.5 percent) despite its struggles at home (11.9 percent, 28th in the NHL). The team has scored at least one power play goal in each of the last three games and is 6-for-25 (24 percent) over the last six games.
On the penalty kill, the team has survived 30 of its last 31 manpower disadvantages (96.8 pct) over the last nine games. The only blemish came on a fluke bounce off Braydon Coburn that pinballed into the net in the second period of Sunday's game in New York.
Matt Read returned to the lineup for the Flyers after missing the last six games. He recorded an assist, a shot, a blocked shot and was plus-1 in 18:24 of ice time, including 3:43 on the penalty kill (tops among Philly forwards). Steve Downie remained a healthy scratch for Philadelphia.
Philly held Buffalo to 19 shots for this game, while generating 33 of their own. However, the Flyers were guilty of some ugly turnovers and coverage breakdowns along the way. Giving up three goals to what is by far the worst offensive team in the NHL -- the Sabres came into the game averaging 1.61 goals per game -- and getting away with yielding a 2-on-1 rush and a handful of other chances that fizzled out was not very impressive.
Put another way, despite the modest Buffalo shot totals, the Flyers ended up on the wrong side of the puck a few too many times in the game. That was especially true in the first period. Had the Flyers been up against even an average offensive opponent, this game very well could have gone much the way Sunday's game in New York went, with the Flyers finding themselves in a 3-0 hole before they got going.
Actually, the second half of the opening period against the Rangers wasn't that bad for Philly. I thought those 10 minutes were better hockey by the Flyers than the entire opening 20 the team played tonight, but the three-goal deficit on the scoreboard masked it.
The Flyers played much better over the final 40 minutes of the game but there were still some sloppy breakdowns that easily could have been momentum turners -- ala the Tampa Bay game last Saturday -- if the Sabres had better finishers.
Steve Mason (16 saves) went long stretches in this game without seeing shots. His performance was average; no more and no less. On two of the three goals Mason yielded, he opened up the five-hole and wasn't able to seal off his pads in time.
Tyler Ennis's sharp angle game-tying goal at 16:47 of the third period after the Flyers took their first lead of the game -- was one the goalie probably should have come up with. The opening goal by Cody Hodgson was a case of a player being left wide open in a dangerous area of the ice and having any number of ways he could have attacked the net. The middle goal, which gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead at 6:27 of the third period on a tip-in by Matt D'Agostini off a cross-ice play by Steve Ott, was unstoppable.
At the other end of the ice, Jhonas Enroth (29 saves) probably deserved a little better fate. The acrobatic Swede authored numerous excellent saves through the game and deserved to be in the running for first star of the game until his team got panicky late in the game under an assertive Philadelphia attack.
When all is said and done, the Flyers got their two points and they got them in regulation. The win the Flyers 20th regulation win and 21st non-shootout win of the season. By comparison, Washington (same number of points as the Flyers but with a game in hand) has only accomplished 14 of its 22 wins on the season in regulation or overtime.
The regulation and overtime win stat may not mean much now, but it could if tiebreakers come into play at the end of the season to determine playoff spots and matchups.
The Flyers will return home to the Wells Fargo Center for the next two games. They will take on Nashville on Thursday night and then come back Saturday night to open a home-and-home set against the New York Islanders with a game in Philly.
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