Postgame RAV4: Flyers Fall to Sabres

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 5-3, at KeyBank Center on Thursday evening. The Flyers controlled most of the first two periods but left the door open for the Sabres. Buffalo took advantage and turned the tide.

Philly dominated most of the opening period. However, Buffalo's Jack Quinn (6th goal of the season) opened the scoring before Noah Cates (8th) responded less than a minute later.

In the second period, Trevor Zegras set up a Cam York goal (2nd) in the middle stages of the period. Five minutes later, Tage Thompson (17th) forged a 2-2 tie. With less than 30 seconds left in the frame, Noah Ostund (5th) put Buffalo ahead, 3-2.

The Flyers never truly regained equilibrium in the third period. They lost battles, turned pucks over and took a costly penalty. John Norris (PPG, 3rd) extended the Buffalo edge to two goals in the middle stages of the period. Travis Konecny (10th) answered to get Philly back within 4-3. Ryan McLeod (ENG, 6th) iced the game after the Flyers could not capitalize at 6-on-4.

Samuel Ersson took the loss. He made 23 saves on 27 shots. Former Flyers goaltender Alex Lyon earned the win with 24 saves on 27 shots.

FIRST PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Just 18 seconds after the opening faceoff, Rasmus Dahlin hooked the Flyers' Christian Dvorak to prevent an almost-certain goal. Alex Tuch blocked a Trevor Zegras shot. A Jamie Drysdale point blast got deflected wide. Philadelphia was unable to score or generate any dangerous chances.

The Flyers had three of the game's first five shots on goal. Buffalo iced the puck at 4:33.

Buffalo took a 1-0 lead at 7:40. Quinn deflected home a shot near the net. The assists went to Mattias Samuelsson and Jack Quinn.

It took just 58 seconds for the Flyers to pull even. Bobby Brink made a play off the half-boards and then backhand feed to Cates, who sniped a shot from the slot near the left hash marks.

The Cates line stayed on the ice after the goal. They immediately went back to the forecheck. Through 10 minutes, shots on goal were 8-3 Flyers.

Buffalo remained hemmed in. They took an icing at 11:10 to temporarily relieve the pressure. The Flyers went right back to the attack. Through 13 minutes, shots on goal were 11-3 Philly. Buffalo did not have a shot since Quinn's goal.

With 37 seconds left in the period, Travis Konecny was called for hooking. Buffalo's recently red hot power play went to work. Ersson denied a point-blank chance for Benson just before the buzzer. The remaining power play time carried over to the second period.

Shots: Flyers 12 - Sabres 4

Faceoffs: Flyers 7 - Sabres 12

SECOND PERIOD SYNOPSIS

The Flyers killed off the remainder of the Konecny penalty. Benson nearly scored after the penalty expired. At the other end of the ice, Matvei Michkov had a good chance at the bottom of the left circle.

Philly went to the power play at 4:52. Tuch tripped Emil Andrae behind the Flyers' net. Fifty seconds into the 5-on-4, Zegras teed up a one-time blast for Tippett from inside the blueline. Christian Dvorak was stopped in close on a backhander. Michkov had another chance after the penalty expired.

At 7:42, Rasmus Ristolainen took a cross-checking minor behind his net. Now Buffalo went back to the power play. Philly killed it off. Benson had a look from the mid-slot just before Ristolainen exited the box.

Zegras spotted York pinching in on the attack. Zegras made a perfect pass and York buried it for a 2-1 lead at 11:01. Brink drew the secondary assist.

At 11:18, a big scrum developed in the Buffalo zone after Michkov bumped into Lyon, who embellished the contact a bit. The lone penalty went to Michkov. On the kill, Ristolainen blocked a Tuch slap shot attempt. Philly won the next faceoff and cleared the puck down the ice. With play back at 5-on-5, Nick Seeler blocked a shot out of play.

A Travis Sanheim turnover directly to Dahlin proved costly at 16:24. Dahlin made a between-the-legs pass to Thompson. A moment later, Thompson fired and scored off the post and into the net.

With 29.8 seconds left, Noah Ostlund fired a shot through a maze of traffic and beat Ersson to the glove side. The assists went to Power and Tuch. Suddenly, it was 3-2 Sabres.

Shots: Flyers 10 (22 overall) - Sabres 12 (16 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 9 (16 overall) - Sabres 10 (22 overall)

THIRD PERIOD SYNOPSIS

Brink swatted at the puck behind the Buffalo net and took a high-sticking minor at 10:02. The Sabres made it 4-2 at 10:20. The Flyers lost the draw and lost a battle on the boards. After a cross-ice pass from Benson, Norris beat Ersson with his shot.

With 5:32 left in regulation, Konecny threaded a shot home to cut the gap to 4-3. Jame Drysdale and Andrae earned the assists at 14:28.

At 15:19, Zegras took a center-ice ice hooking penalty. The Flyers killed it off, although Buffalo pressured hard late.

With 2:19 left, Samuelsson put the puck over the glass from deep in the defensive end. The Flyers went to a do-or-die power play. They lost the first draw. When they re-gained entry, Philly pulled Ersson.

The Flyers failed to score. At 19:52, Ryan McLeod scored intot the empty net. Samuelsson got the lone assist.

Shots: Flyers 5 (27 overall) - Sabres 12 (28 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 15 (31 overall) - Sabres 3 (25 overall)

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

Trevor Zegras- Christian Dvorak – Travis Konecny
Carl Grundstrom – Sean Couturier – Owen Tippett
Matvei Michkov – Noah Cates – Bobby Brink
Nicolas Deslauriers – Rodrigo Abols – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York – Travis Sanheim
Emil Andrae – Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler - Rasmus Ristolainen

Samuel Ersson
[Dan Vladar]

PP1: York, Michkov, Couturier, Konecny, Sanheim
PP2: Drysdale, Brink, Cates, Tippett, Zegras

Postgame RAV4 (RAV4 Things Revisited)

1. Between the pipes: Samuel Ersson.

Ersson entered the game with a career 4-1-0 record, 1.87 goals against average and .917 save percentage against Buffalo. On Thursday, the Sabres solved him four times. The Ostlund goal through traffic in the final minute of the second period was the one extra save that Ersson needed to find a way to make.

2. Race to double-digit goals

Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett and Bobby Brink all entered Thursday's game one goal behind the injured Tyson Foerster for second on the team in goals scored (10). Konecny's third-period goal got him to double-digits.

3. Special teams.

The Flyers have lost the special teams battle too often lately. It proved costly on Thursday. Philly went 0-for-3 on the power play. They were 4-for-5 on penalty kill but absolutely could not afford to give up the lost battles that led to Norris' insurance goal that opened a 4-2 lead.

4. Rasmus Ristolainen.

In his second game back from Injured Reserve, former Sabres defenseman Ristolainen played 16:59 and was -1. He blocked three shots. Early in the second period, Ristolainen lost his stick and blocked a shot while borrowing a twig from Hathaway.