Yes even after the emotional loss of one of their best teammates, the Flyers didn’t waiver dominating the Sabres through the full 60 min. From the drop of the puck to final whistle they played with grit and toughness with strong forechecking and lots of huge hits.

1st period

It didn’t take the Flyers very long to get on the board drawing a penalty in the very first minute. The Flyers would go on the power play to get a couple shots with solid spacing but failed to strike. But a few seconds after the power play expired Oskar Lindblom stepping into his new role of posting up on the door step chips one in at 2:42 into the first period with the assists going to Nolan Patrick and Travis Konecny. Moments later Ryan Hartman’s first shift of the game, he lays out Dahlin the 18 year old D man drawing a skirmish in the corner resulting in a double minor for the Sabers for roughing. Hartman would then receive 2 minutes for roughing caused by wrestling match in the corner. Yet again the Flyers power play would take the ice but this time couldn’t get set up in the offensive zone. But yet again shortly after the power play was over they would strike again with another chipped in goal this time from Jake Scoreacek with assists from the captain Giroux and Phil Myers who recorded his first career NHL point. Later on in the period Scott Laughton would take a 2 minute minor for hooking and would send the Sabres on their first power play of the game. Within the first few seconds the ever dangerous Jack Eichel would snap one in from the slot on a beautiful dish from Jeff Skinner and Dahlin. Rest of the period the flyers would dominate but no one would score. So it’s 2-1 going into the 1st intermission.

2nd Period

It would be a slow start with no major hits or note worthy shots till 15:13 into the second and JVR redirects a shot from Hagg downward and off the ice over carter Hutton’s out stretched pad. Assists would go to Hagg and Gudas. But less then two minutes later the Sabres would strike back with a goal by Middlestadt assisted by Rodriguez and Connor Sheary. A few moments later Hartman was skating up ice and was about to receive a huge hit till he up ended and laid out Rasmus Ristolainen. The rest of the period would go by and it’s 3-2 going into the 2nd intermission.

3rd period

The flyers would go onto dominate on the body and continue their great forechecking. Travis Sanhiem would jump in on the rush for 3 on 2 break after a turnover caused by Couts. The solid play would continue from Sanhiem as he would snipe the puck by Hutton to extend the lead to 4-2. Buffalo pulled their goalie and was looking to fight back but a costly turnover that was batted out to center ice cost them an empty netter by Claude Giroux, sealing this one adding two points keeping them in the hunt.

My 3 Stars

  1. Lindblom- had a terrific game, making zero mistakes and he was everywhere from in the corners to being parked in front of the net. He got in all the dirty areas and seemingly won all the one on one battles creating chances throughout the entire game. He tallied 5 shots 4 hits, a +/- 1, and had 17:57 of ice time stepping in nicely trying fill the void that was left with the Simmonds trade.
  2. Giroux- every time G gets on the ice there’s a possibility of a big play whether it’s defensive or offensive, he’s always a force. He tallied two more points with is 1G and 1A. He had 2 shots and +/- 2 in 17:59 of ice time
  3. Very difficult to choose between Moose and Hartman. Moose had 34 saves on 36 shots with a sv % .944. But Hartman stepped up and had 4 shots 4 hits 2 blocked shots and ate up a very solid 14:12 min of ice time. Hartman was in all the dirty areas and very well could have had two goals if wasn’t for a very impressive save by Hutton in the 1st period or the defensive help at the end of the 2nd period

Standings Heading into Thursday

A very pivotal game in Columbus Thursday with us jumping over the Sabres last night leaving only Columbus and Pittsburgh in our way of the final playoff spot. With a win in regulation on Thursday it’s a 4 point swing which could bring us within 4 points of them. As of right now though we are 7 behind the Pens and 6 behind the Blue Jackets. With 19 games left and the majority of them being on the road, it will not be an easy task to squeak in but it is very well possible. I firmly believe if we win 13-15 of our last 19 with a couple overtime losses if it is only 13 wins we can make it in even possibly as the 3rd place team in Metro division but we shall see. With every win and point we earn the light shines a little bit brighter then it did before.