Postgame RAV4: Comeback Bid Falls Short in Buffalo

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2, at KeyBank Center on Wednesday evening. The Flyers are 0-3-1 in their last four games.

Rasmus Dahlin (PPG, 5th) gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Subsequently, Mattias Samuelsson (8th) added to the lead. The Sabres also hit the post twice in the first period and had five high-danger chances to two for the Flyers.

Jack Quinn (10th) built a three-goal lead early in the second period. Owen Tippett (15th) got the Flyers back within 3-1 in the middle stages of the period. Dahlin (PPG, 6th) scored his second power play goal of the game to restore the three-goal advantage.

In the third period, Trevor Zegras (PPG, 18th) narrowed the gap to two goals again. Philly drew no closer, and Ryan McLeod (SHG, ENG, 10th) restored another three-goal margin.

Dan Vladar (three saves on five shots) suffered an injury in the first period. He did not return. Samuel Ersson took over in goal, seeing eight shots and stopping six. Ukko-Pekka Luukonen (20 saves) earned the win in goal.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers went to an early power play at 1:52 as goaltender Luukkonen hooked, Christian Dvorak. The 5-on-4 went by the wayside without any scoring chances.

Nikita Grebenkin was robbed by Luukonen at point blank range. Owen Tippett had the setup.

Through seven minutes, shots were 3-0 Flyers. Matvei Michkov made a fine defensive play to short-circuit a scoring chance. At 9:06, Vladar made his first save of the game: a routine stop on Dahlin.

Cam York went to the box for cross-checking Jason Zucker at 9:16. From the top of the right circle, Dahlin wired hom a shot over the goaltender's shoulder through traffic at 9:30. The assists went to Josh Doan and Tage Thompson.

Taking a feed from Noah Ostlund, Samuelsson scored on the short side at 15:13. Doan got the second assist.

The Flyers had a 2-on-0 opportunity. A pass sequence from Zegras to Travis Konecny went awry.

Shots: Flyers 8 - Sabres 5
Faceoffs: Flyers 8 - Sabres 10

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Ersson entered the game at the start of the period. Vladar did not return to the bench.

At 2:06, Zegras took a hooking penalty against Doan. The Sabres didn't score but Buffalo made it 3-0 at 4:22. With Flyers defenders caught puck watching, Quinn scored from prime range. The assists went to Ryan McLeod and Zach Benson.

Scoring his sixth goal in his last 12 games, Tippett snapped home a shot from over the middle to draw Philly back within 3-1 at 10:28. The sequence started with Noah Cates claiming a Sabres turnover in the neutral zone. Cates received the lone assist.

At 12:44, Konecny tripped Bowen Byram. Buffalo scored their third power play goal of the game at 13:51. Dahlin fired and scored with Zucker setting up a screen. The assists went to Josh Norris and Thompson.

Through 17 minutes shots were 7-7 but chances continued to favor the Sabres.

Grebenkin caused havoc in the Buffalo zone and goaded Benson into a cross-checking penalty at 19:14. Dvorak deflected a Zegras shot on net. The period expired. The remainder of the power play was negated by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Garnet Hathaway at 20:00

Shots: Flyers 8 (16 overall) - Sabres 6 (11 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 14 (22 overall) - Sabres 8 (18 overall)

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Matvei Michkov moved up to a line with Dvorak and Konecny. Early in the period, Michkov set up a scoring chance for Jamie Drysdale. The shot attempt went off the side of the net. On the next shift, Luukonen denied Tippett on a dangerous bid for his second goal of the game.

Konecny took a slashing penalty on Zucker at 3:35. Play went to 4-on-4 at 4:18 as Byram tripped Hathway. Philly was unable to generate anything on their abbreviated power play.

Abols kept his feet moving and drew a hooking penalty on Zach Metsa at 6:47. At 7:37, Zegras scored on a power play re-direct off his skate to get the Flyers within 4-2. The assists went to Konecny and Tippett.

Konecny found Juulsen with a tape-to-tape feed. Juulsen got a good piece of the puck but fired a shot off the crossbar.

Seeler took a roughing penalty on Quinn at 13:22. Seeler delivered a clean hit but then delivered an extra shot, which put the Sabres on their sixth power play of the game. The Flyers killed it off but lost two precious minutes off the clock.

The Flyers pulled Ersson for an extra attacker with roughly three minutes left on the clock.

At 17:45, Byram grabbed hold of Michkov. The Flyers called timeout and kept the same six skates on the ice. Philly was contained to the perimeter. At 19:20, McLeod scored a shorthanded empty netter, assisted by Alex Tuch.

Shots: Flyers 6 (22 overall) - Sabres 3 (14 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 9 (31 overall) - Sabres 10 (28 overall)

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Trevor Zegras – Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey – Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov – Noah Cates – Carl Grundstrom
Nikita Grebenkin – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York -- Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae -- Jamie Drydale
Nick Seeler -- Noah Juulsen

Dan Vladar
[Samuel Ersson]

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. Healthy bodies

Defenseman Jamie Drysdale returned to the Flyers' lineup after missing the previous three games. He had one shot on goal, one blocked shot and one takeaway. Rasmus Ristolainen was a late injury scratch. Vladar left the game after only twenty minutes of action.

2. Breaking the goal slump

The Flyers came into this game having scored just four goals over their three previous games. On Wednesday night, Tippett scored his second goal in the last three games. Later, he and Konecny helped create Zegras' power play marker.

3. Special teams

The Flyers went 1-for-5 on the power play. They allowed two power play goals on six penalty kill opportunities plus McLeod's late shorthanded goal.

Buffalo's struggling power play cashed in its first chance of the night after Philly's scuffling man advantage falled on their first opportunity.

The Flyers' recent PK swoon continued as Dahlin added his second power play goal of the game. Later, Zegras got Philly's first special teams goal of the game.

4. Attacking the middle of the ice

The Flyers had a golden chance for Grebenkin in the first period but Luukonen made a 10-bell stop. Other than that Buffalo had the better quality of scoring opportunities (and traffic) in the opening 20 minutes.

Tippett's second period goal came about by attacking the middle and firing a shot past Luukkonen. There was also traffic around the net. Overall, the Flyers didn't get enough of this.