It looked like the Philadelphia Flyers were going to break through their losing streak when Claude Giroux found a way to take the lead for the Flyers. However, the Buffalo Sabres scored on 3 of 4 powerplays, two of which visibly devastated the Flyers. Many wonder how much longer Giroux will continue to wear the Orange & Black, and while we won’t know the future until it happens, he is still finding ways of playing great hockey.
The Flyers’ lone goal scorers were Claude Giroux who had two deflections, and Rasmus Ristolainen who snuck a shot through early in the first to tie the game. The Sabres’ scorers were Tage Thompson (2), Jeff Skinner (2), and Peyton Krebs (2).
1st Period
Before you knew it, the Sabres scored right out of the gates due do a major breakdown behind the net with Ivan Provorov and Morgan Frost. This was Skinner’s first of the night, and it was not going to be his last. It felt like the game was written in stone. We are approaching the halfway point and the team has only managed to pull together 2 wins when giving up the first goal, which they have done in 9 of the last 10 games.
The Sabres went to the powerplay first, but the PK units forged ahead and were able to manage just fine. Then all of a sudden, Ristolainen nipped one after taking a few steps down the high slot/top of the right circle area. It was all business with him, even though he scored his 2nd of his season, first in 20 games, at his former club’s arena. Then within minutes, Provorov whipped another shot on net that Giroux deflected, temporarily giving the Flyers a 2-1 lead.
Of course, it did not last long when Zack MacEwen and his beautiful mustache went to the box. Tage Thompson found the back of the net on a fluky bounce, and this is where things fell apart for the Flyers. It appeared like Peyton Krebs was offsides on the entry, but the refs maintained it was a good goal. Mere seconds later, Thompson scored his second of the matinee on the delay of game for the lost challenge on the missed offsides, leading the Flyers 3-2.
Now look, bad bounces and a potential foul-up by the ref would make any competitor fume, but you should be using that to score the next goal and not collapse. To no one’s surprise, the Flyers collapsed, literally when the Sabres jolted the zone, leaving 4 Flyers in front of Martin Jones, giving the Sabres their next goal to put them up 4-2 by the end of the period. It was quite possibly the worst start you could try to think of, and this one was particularly creative.
2nd Period
The defeated Flyers received their first powerplay early on but could not make anything of it. They were able to get set up in the zone with the first unit, but after that it started to fall apart. Then, because this is just how things are going, Krebs, the one who was serving the penalty, was sprung right out the box for a breakaway, and he did not miss, edging the Sabres to a 5-2 lead early in the 2nd period.
Another uneventful hockey period for the Flyers, but there was a bit of a scuffle! Travis Konecny got tied up with two players behind the play around the 9-minute mark, which sent the Flyers back for their second powerplay of the afternoon. Of course, nothing was done with it. They were given their third powerplay at the 6-minute mark, which also sparked close to nothing.
3rd Period
The Flyers entered the 3rd period on their fourth powerplay where another man advantage was squandered away. The Sabres went back to their fourth powerplay and made no mistakes to further bury this club, giving them a 6-2 lead. Jeff Skinner scored his 14th of the season, and this game was all but final at this point (as if it was not already). As for the rest of the period, Wade Allison went to the tunnel with a lower-body injury, and the Flyers went onto their fifth and final powerplay where Giroux found another deflection in front to end the score at 6-3. The Flyers have now lost 11 straight games.
Up Next…
The Flyers welcome Michael Raffl back to Philadelphia when the Dallas Stars roll into town on Monday night at Wells Fargo Center.
