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Wrap: Late Blitz Lifts Flyers to 6-2 Rout in Buffalo |
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Late Blitz Lifts Flyers to 6-2 Rout in Buffalo
Trailing 2-0 in the first period and tied 2-2 in the third when going to their first and only penalty kill of the game, the Philadelphia Flyers went to turn an up-for-grabs game into a rout as they went on to defeat the host Buffalo Sabres, 6-2, on Saturday afternoon. The win restored the Flyers to the statistical .500 mark this season (12-12-3). Buffalo is now winless in its last five games.
A shorthanded goal by Claude Giroux (11th) put the Flyers ahead, 3-2, in the third period and opened the floodgates for Philly. Giroux finished the game with four points (one goal, three assists). With Sean Couturier missing the game and considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury, Giroux moved from left wing to center. James van Riemsdyk (2nd goal of the season, 4th assist) was moved up to the top line along with Giroux and Travis Konecny (9th goal).
Ivan Provorov (3rd goal of the season) knotted the game at 2-2 midway through regulation. Michael Raffl played an excellent game in the trenches and collected a pair of assists in the game. Wayne Simmonds (10th) benefited from some self-made puck luck on a goal that opened a 4-2 lead.
Anthony Stolarz was outstanding in goal, coming up with several crucial saves -- including a couple of 10-bell stops -- over the first half of the game. He was not as busy later on but stepped up when needed. Stolarz finished with 28 saves on 30 shots. Fifteen saves came in the first period.
Jack Eichel scored both of Buffalo's goals, building a 2-0 lead for Buffalo. The first was a snipe off the post and in on a rush. The second was a tip-in of a point shot that was heading wide of the net.
Buffalo goaltender Linus Ullmark deserved a little better fate than his stat line would suggest. He came up with 35 saves on 41 shots. One of his saves in particular was a highlight-reel save on Jakub Voracek with the Flyers on the power play; an answer to a late first-period spectacular save that Stolarz made on Conor Sheary.
A scoring chance for Jori Lehterä in the Buffalo end was denied by Ullmark before Buffalo scored the other way. Eichel went high blocker, off the post and in the net on a shot against Anthony Stolarz for a 1-0 Sabres lead at 4:04. The Sabres grabbed a 2-0 lead at 12:02, not long after a successful kill; an Eichel tip-in of a Lawrence Pilut point shot that was going wide of the net.
The Flyers top line got a goal back at 12:52 of the first period. On a set play, van Riemsdyk scored on a rising shot directly off a clean faceoff win by Giroux in the left circle. to cut the gap back to one goal. The goal broke a seven-game pointless spell for JVR.
Strong work on the walls by Raffl and a set up pass from Scott Laughton to Provorov in the deep left slot started the sequence that led to Provorov firing a shot past Ullmark to tie the game at 2-2 at 10:10 of the second period.
That's where the score remained until the third period. Shots were 29-26 in the Flyers' favor through two periods. Philly would go on to dominate third period shots, 12-4, and the goal-scoring floodgates eventually opened.
Good defense by Travis Sanheim on the front end of an early third period Buffalo rush broke up a play. However, the Sabres kept the puck in, generated a scramble in front and Sanheim ultimately took a penalty for the Sabres' first power play of the game. On the ensuing kill, Giroux led an odd-man rush and sniped a perfect shot under the crossbar from the left circle for a shorthanded goal and 3-2 lead at 2:49.
At 8:10 of the third period, the Flyers built a 4-2 lead on some self-made puck luck. Hard work by Wayne Simmonds, combined with a favorable bounce and the puck in front went in the net off the skate of Buffalo defenseman Zach Bogosian.
The Flyers added a fifth straight goal at 8:10. Raffl won a battle behind the net and set up Weise for a tight-angle goal that made it a 5-2 game. Giroux got the secondary asssist A tic-tac-toe sequence with Giroux, van Riemsdyk and goal scorer Travis Konecny opened up a cavernous 6-2 lead at the 11:00 mark.
There was a late-game fight with the outcome sealed. Nathan Beaulieu forced the issue after a Radko Gudas hit on Johan Larsson. Gudas was never able to get an upright base to start throwing, so he mostly held on.
The Flyers return to action on Sunday, visiting the Winnipeg Jets in what shapes up as a gut-check game for Philadelphia against a high-end opponent.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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