Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (17-9-6) are in the Empire State on Thursday to take on Lindy Ruff’s Buffalo Sabres (14-14-4). This is the second of three meetings this season between the clubs. On Dec. 3, the Flyers skated to a 5-2 home win over the Sabres.
Thursday's game time is 7:30 p.m. EST. The match will be streamed on ESPN+/Hulu.
The Flyers bring a five-game point streak (2-0-3) into this game. On Tuesday, the Flyers skated to a convincing 4-1 road win over the Montreal Canadiens. Meanwhile, the Sabres have won each of their last three games to pull their record up to hockey .500 for the season.
In Tuesday's game in Montreal, Carl Grundstrom (3rd goal of the season) tied the score less than a half-minute after the Canadiens took the lead. In the second period, Trevor Zegras (14th) gave the Flyers the lead. Bobby Brink (9th) extended the advantage in the final minute of the frame. Travis Konecny (ENG, 9th) iced the win late in the third period.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch in Buffalo on Thursday.
1. Between the pipes
Dan Vladar has started the last two games in net. He's continued his season-long stretch of strong play. Meanwhile, Samuel Ersson has quietly played well in each of his last five starts despite a 2-2-1 record in that span. Ersson has a history of success against Buffalo, including a win in the previous meeting between the teams this season. In five career games against Buffalo, Ersson has a 4-1-0 record with a 1.87 goals against average and .917 save percentage.
2. The race to double-digits
Zegras leads the Flyers with 14 goals. Tyson Foerster, who is out for five months after undergoing right arm surgery, is second on the club with 10 tallies. Behind those two, the Flyers have three players on the cusp of hitting double-digit goals for the season: Konecny, Owen Tippett, and Brink have nine tallies apiece. Matvei Michkov has eight.
On Thursday night, keep an eye on Tippett in particular. The 26-year-old winger has six career goals and nine points in 13 games against Buffalo. Tippett, who scored in the Dec. 3 game, registered a hat trick against the Sabres back on March 17, 2023.
3. Special teams
Dating back to November 15, a 15-game sample size, the Flyers are 32nd in the NHL with a 10.5 percent (4-for-38) success rate on the power play. The penalty kill has been more of a roller coaster ride in that span : 73.3 percent (33-for-45).
Philly’s overall special teams index score is 83.8 over the last 15 games. Without Foerster (3 PPG in 21 games), this is an area where more is needed from Michkov (one power play goal for the season) in particular.
4. The return of Risto
Former Sabres defenseman Rasmus Risotalain returned with a vengeance in his first game back from the Injured Reserve list. The big Finn made an impact with his physical game in the tilt against Montreal.
Thursday's game marks the sixth match for Ristolainen against the Sabres since he came over to the Flyers in the summer of 2021. In five games, he has one goal and a plus-three rating.
