PREVIEW: FLYERS VS. SABRES
Looking for their third straight victory, Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (4-2-1) play host to Dan Bylsma's Buffalo Sabres (2-6-0) on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Game time is 7 p.m. ET. Prior to the start of the game, the Flyers will honor the recent retirement of longtime Sabres and Flyers fan favorite Danny Briere.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The teams will rematch on Friday in Buffalo. The season series will wrap up with a rubber game at the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 11.
Last season, the Flyers went 2-0-1 against the Sabres.Philly won an ugly 4-3 regulation decision in Buffalo after trailing at the first intermission. The second meeting, also in Buffalo, saw the Flyers dominate early but then having to scratch out a 2-1 regulation decision with the winning goal scored in the latter half of the third period. Buffalo had the better of play in the second period. The final game, in Philadelphia, saw the Sabres skate off with a 3-2 win via shootout.
Both the Flyers and Sabres are playing the first game of a 3-in-4 gauntlet. Before playing each other again in Buffalo on Friday, the Flyers will host the New Jersey Devils on Friday while the Sabres are in Western Pennsylvania to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Flyers Outlook
The Flyers enter this game coming off a thriller of a game against the New York Rangers on Saturday; a 3-2 victory via shootout that saw the two teams combine for 87 shots during regulation and overtime.
The Flyers got regulation goals from Mark Streit (second of the season) and Scott Laughton (first of the season), while Sam Gagner and Claude Giroux later converted their shootout attempts. Steve Mason was excellent in goal. The victorious netminder stopped 37 of 39 shots, including three in overtime, before denying two of three attempts in the shootout. Mason had no chance of stopping either of the Rangers' two regulation goals.
There was a frightening moment early in the second period that nearly cast a pall over the night, as Flyers left winger Michael Raffl fainted and collapsed on the bench. Six seconds into a Flyers penalty kill, at the 2:58 mark, play was halted after Flyers' players on the bench banged their sticks on the boards and hollered to get the officials' attention.
Raffl said he felt fine within 10 minutes and has had no lingering effects. He practiced in full on Monday and is expected to play against Buffalo.
After Monday's practice, the team was not interested in talking about last year's second-half struggles against teams that did not make the playoffs. To a man, the players and coach Dave Hakstol said the focus was only on the present.
Sean Couturier (upper-body injury) did not practice on Monday and is not expected to play in this game. Goaltender Michael Neuvirth (upper-body injury) is on injured reserve. The goalie, who says that he is now 100 percent healthy after getting accidentally clocked in the head with a stick during last Wednesday's game in Boston, is eligible to be activated on Thursday.
Sabres Outlook
The Sabres have dropped two games in a row and three of the last four, with the lone win coming in a 2-1 home win via shootout against the Toronto Maple Leafs. On Saturday, Buffalo dropped a 4-3 home regulation decision to New Jersey.
Buffalo got power play goals from Tyler Ennis (second goal of the season) in the opening period and highly touted rookie Jack Eichel (third) in the final minute of the game. The tallies were sandwiched around an early second-period even strength goal by Ryan O'Reilly, which gave the Sabres a short-lived 2-1 lead before the Devils scored twice to grab a 3-2 advantage heading into the final stanza. Linus Ullmark stopped 24 of 28 shots in a losing cause.
Buffalo struggled mightily for goal-scoring last year and the club is still hardly lighting up the scoreboard, averaging 1.88 goals through the first eight matches. Meanwhile the Sabres have yielded an average 3.25 goals per game. The Flyers haven't done too much better offensively, averaging 2.14 goals per game but have fared better in keeping the puck out of their own net. Philadelphia opponents have scored an average 2.56 goals per game; a number that is still somewhat skewed by a 7-1 blowout loss to Florida in the season's second game.
While the still-rebuilding Sabres remain a likely non-playoff team, they have built a formidable nucleus down the middle between Eichel, Zemgus Girgensons and O'Reilly with veteran David Legwand centering the fourth line. The team has lost top line left winger Evander Kane for four to six weeks with a knee injury suffered in the game against New Jersey.
The club recalled Tim Schaller from the American Hockey League's Rochester Americans to fill the roster spot vacated when Kane was placed on the injured reserve list. It is possible that Schaller could play in place of Legwand on Tuesday. Nicolas Deslauriers was moved to O'Reilly's line in Kane's absence.
The Sabres are also missing new goaltending acquisition Robin Lehner. The former Ottawa netminder is on IR with an ankle injury. Likewise, key defenseman Zach Bogosian (lower-body injury) and veteran forward Cody McCormick (leg) are on injured reserve.
Buffalo's roster features defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo, who spent most of last season with the Flyers before departing as an unrestricted free agent. He has been a healthy scratch a couple of times for Bylsma's club. Terry Murray, a former Flyers player and head coach, is an assistant coach with the Sabres after spending the last three seasons as the head coach of the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Projected lineups (Subject to change, will be updated)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 28 Claude Giroux - 93 Jakub Voracek 24 Matt Read - 89 Sam Gagner - 17 Wayne Simmonds 20 R.J. Umberger - 21 Scott Laughton - 10 Brayden Schenn 76 Chris VandeVelde - 78 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Ryan White
55 Nick Schultz - 32 Mark Streit 15 Michael Del Zotto - 3 Radko Gudas 82 Evgeny Medvedev - 22 Luke Schenn
35 Steve Mason [45 Jason LaBarbera]
Scratches: Sean Couturier (upper body), Vincent Lecavalier (healthy), Brandon Manning (healthy), Michal Neuvirth (IR, upper body).
SABRES
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 90 Ryan O'Reilly - 63 Tyler Ennis 22 Johan Larsson - 15 Jack Eichel - 23 Sam Reinhart 25 Matt Moulson - 28 Zemgus Girgensons - 12 Brian Gionta 82 Marcus Foligno - 17 David Legwand - 88 Jamie McGinn
4 Josh Gorges - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen 29 Jake McCabe - 3 Mark Pysyk 6 Mike Weber - 46 Cody Franson
31 Chad Johnson [35 Linus Ullmark]
Scratches: Carlo Colaiacovo or Mike Weber (healthy), Tim Schaller or David Legwand (healthy), Evander Kane (IR, knee), Robin Lehner (IR, ankle), Cody McCormick (IR, leg), Zach Bogosian (IR, lower body).