Once the sting of their third period collapse subsides, the Buffalo Sabres will want to pull coaching moments out of their thrd period collapse and yard sale in Philly.
NHL teams that qualify for the playoffs finish their opponents when leading by three goals in the third period. NHL teams cannot win a playoff berth in October, however, they sure can lose playoff bids by blowing leads in games in October.
The Sabres failed to put two points in the back on Monday night. They got a loser point after leading 3-0 and dominating the puck in the third period against Philly.
Dan Bylsma's charges took their skate blade off teh throat of the Flyers and lost their focus. They took dumb penalties, and surrendered three power play goals.
Again, NHL playoff teams win such games. They don't gift wrap them and give them away as presents.
Jake Voracek would score the shootout winner moments after he was forced to visit the quiet room after a thunderous body check in the third period.
It's as if Bylsma urged his players to back away from the proverbial all-you-can-eat-buffet far too early for my liking. Former Sabres tender Michal Neuvirth failed miserably in the 40 minutes of play. Neuvirth allowed three goals on just 17 shots faced before he was sent to the shower in the second priod for the second time in two weeks.
The Flyers trailed 3-0 going into the third period.
Then, the Sabres fell asleep at the wheel.
Don't ask me why.
It was a third period collapse of epic proportions for the Sabres.
At the 4:23 mark of the third period, Flyers rookie Travis Konecny scored his first career NHL goal to get the Flyers on the board.
The goal gave the Flyers some belief that their night was not over. The Sabres were a smart confident group who protected teh puck and played without errors for the first forty minutes of play.
Then, inexplicably, Bylsma's Sabres lost the ability to play with a two goal lead in the third period of a game where their opponent had played a hard road game the night before. Down 3-1, the Flyers forced the Sabres to turnover pucks that led to chances against. It was a role reversal that ended up biting Buffalo in the back side.
The game took a turn for the worse for the Sabres when new kid on the blue line Dmitry Kulikov stepped up on Jake Voracek and buried the Flyers winger with a high body check.
Did Kulikov make contact with Voracek's head? It's hard to tell. It looked to me like Kulikov made first contact with Voracek's chest or shoulder area. The referee assessed Kulikov with a two minute charging minor which sent Kulikov to the box. The hit forced Voracek to visit the quiet room and recharged the exhausted Flyers who played in Montreal on Monday night while the Sabres chilled at the hotel.
What was Kulikov thinking? I know that I would have told my D and forwards to get the puck, chip it off the glass, change lines and kill the clock. Dumb penalty for Kulikov to take at that moment. That play reminds me of the type of penalties the Sabres used to take as a team while they were tanking for two seasons. Those bad old habits were supposed to have died with the tank.
Kulikov and the Sabres played with fire and got burned.
With 2:52 remaining in regulation, Brayden Schenn scored his PPG to cut the Buffalo lead to 3-2.
With 1:56 remaining to play in regulation, Samson Reinhart visited the penalty box while the Sabres were leading 3-2. Mark Streit found the puck during a goal crease schmozzle and tied the game.
Thanks, CSN Philly
***
It's official.
Matt Moulson is back and rocking.
Moulson passed his audition with flying colors in Philly where Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma rewarded the 32 year old former 30 goal scorer with a chance to play LW on Buffalo's top line. Moulson looked right at home with Ryan O'Reilly and his former NY OIslanders line mate Kyle Okposo.
Moulson struck for his third and fourth power play goals in the past four games to give the Sabres a 3-0 lead.
Moulson now has more PPGs in the first five games this season than he did last. The Cornell University product scored just 2 PPGs in 81 games last season. He scored 3 PPGs in 77 games in 2014-15
Moulson's last two goal game was on November 11, 2014 against the Calgary Flames.
Moments after the unrestricted free ageny period opened on July 1, Okposo signed a massive seven year, $42 million contract with the Sabres. At that point, all of the rumors and speculation about a potential Buffalo buyout of the remaining three seasons on Moulson's deal died a fast death. Why would Tim Murray get rid of a player who had just helped to recruit the number one UFA on the market to Buffalo? That would be bad business.
Moulson and Okposo were teammates for five seasons with the NY Islanders.
The Moulsonand Okposo wives and kids are just as close as their famous as Matt and Kyle are.
Moulson and Okposo created a ton of offense while playing together on the Island. Okposo and Moulson played together for 1,102:04 of TOI at 5v5 from 2009 until 2014. This represents Frans Okposo's highest time alongside any forward in that span other than centers Tavares and Nielsen.
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