POSTGAME 5: Flyers Woes Continue in 6-3 Loss to Buffalo

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 6-3, at the KeyBank Center on Saturday afternoon. The Flyers are now winless in 11 games (0-8-3).

Jeff Skinner (15th goal of the season) put the Sabres ahead, 1-0, just 1:29 into the first period. In the middle stages of the frame. closely spaced goals by ex-Sabre defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (2nd) and Flyers captain Claude Giroux (13th) turned the one-goal deficit into a 2-1 lead. Back-to-back power play goals by Tage Thompson (13th and 14th) put the Sabres ahead and then Peyton Krebs (1st) NHL goal scored off a deflection to make it 4-2 Sabres.
Krebs (2nd) didn't have to wait long before scoring again. Exiting the penalty box after taking a minor penalty, Krebs scored a breakaway goal at 2:24 of the second period to open a 5-2 lead. There was a lot of special teams play in the middle frame, especially Flyers' power plays, but no additional scoring.
Skinner added a power play goal (16th of the season) to open a four goal lead. Giroux (power play. 14th) scored his second deflection goal of the game to make the final margin of defeat, 6-3.
Martin Jones lasted just 18 minutes into the game. He yielded four goals on eight shots. Carter Hart played the remainder of the game, stopping 14 of 16 shots. Michael Houser got the win, making 31 saves on 33 shots.
The Flyers went 1-for-5 on the power play but the outcome was sealed by the time they finally scored. Philadelphia went a dismal 1-for-4 on the penalty kill.
TURNING POINT
One replay angle seemed to show Krebs slightly offside on the sequence that led up to Thompson's first power play goal. Other replay angles were inconclusive. After the Flyers' challenge was unsuccessful, Thompson scored again on the next 5-on-4 segment. Suddenly, rather than a 2-1 Flyers lead, the Sabres were ahead 3-2. Things went downhill from there.
The Flyers' struggling power play continued to struggle when they had several opportunities in the second period and early third. The Philadelphia penalty kill failed three times and Flyers' goaltending was also leaky in this game. The result was that the game got out of hand and Giroux's two-goal afternoon was a footnote.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) On the second shift of the game, the Sabres worked the puck in deep. Morgan Frost was unable to contain Alex Tuch behind the Flyers' net and Tuch centered a pass to a wide open Skinner. Dylan Cozens got the secondary assist at 1:29.
Wade Allison jumped on a loose puck as the Sabres turned over skating the puck out from behind their net. Allison had a prime scoring chance from the left slot.
At 5:54, the Sabres went to the game's first power play. Travis Sanheim was sent off for tripping Tage Thompson. Sanheim, to no avail, argued that he'd been high-sticked by Thompson and the Sabre tumbled over him. Exiting the box, Sanheim skated the puck up the ice. Frost won a battle behind the net and the Flyers created some pressure.
Sanheim jumped into the rush to take a saucer pass from Cam Atkinson. Sanheim put the puck across, and it nearly deflected in the net but Houser came up wiith the save at 10:24.
Ristolainen knotted the score at 11:17. He had plenty of space to skate to the top of the right circle and his wrist shot along the ice through traffic found the net between Houser's pads. Gerry Mayhew helped provide a screen. The lone asist went to Sanheim.

Just 1:26 later, at the 12:44 mark of the period, the Flyers took a 2-1 lead. Atkinson dropped a pass back to Ivan Provorov at the left point. Giroux skated across the slot and deflected the puck into the net.

Zack MacEwen was called for a defensive zone hooking minor at 14:37. The Sabres scored on a broken play -- Tuch fanned on his shot attempt -- but the puck went directly to Tage Thompson, who blasted home a slap shot to make it 2-2. The Flyers challenged the play for offside on the entry. Replays were inconclusive, and the Flyers got a delay of game penalty.
On the ensuing 5-on-4, Thomson scored on a wrister through the pads from just above and inside the left circle dot, putting the Sabres ahead, 3-2. The puck was not deflected, nor was there a screen. It was a save Jones needed to make. Rasmus Dahlin got the lone assist at 16:57.
The Sabres struck again 1:03 later at the 18:00 mark. A Henri Jokiharju point shot double deflected off Philadelphia's Mayhew and Buffalo's Krebs into the net for a 4-2 Sabres lead. Jones was pulled and Carter Hart entered the game.
Hart was greeted with a chaotic scramble around the net where the Flyers' goalie was done and out. Buffalo's Mattias Samuelsson (son of longtime Flyers defenseman and coach Kjell Samuelsson) was unable to put the puck into the yawning cage, and the Flyers' dodged that bullet.
2) First period shots were 10-9 in the Sabres' favor. Five-on-five shot attempts were 14-14, with both teams scoring twice. The Sabres scored on two of their three power play shot attempts. Credited hits were 9-9.
3) Just 15 seconds into the first period, Atkinson was tripped by Krebs in the Buffalo zone. The Flyers went to their first power play. The Flyers generated a single unscreened shot, a couple of failed entries and then a breakaway backhand goal by Krebs (shaking off Keith Yandle): 5-2 Sabres.
Allison powered the puck to the net about 6:30 into the second period. Frost couldn't get to the rebound.
The Flyers went back to the power play at 11:24 after Konecny mixed it up behind the play with Skinner and Dahlin. Dahlin was called for roughing. A Konecny shot hit the post and went along -- but not over -- the goal line as Samuelsson swept it away. Shortly thereafter, Provorov double-clutched on a point shot and the lane closed up on. The Sabres killed the rest of the penalty.
Philly went right back to the power play at 15:48. York was taken down in the Buffalo zone by Hayden. York attempted several shots and then Atkinson fired a shot from the top of the right circle that Houser held onto for a save.
MacEwen re-visited the penalty box for hooking at 18:30 but it was canceled out by Skinner being called for embellishment on the same play. With 49 seconds of 4-on-4 time remaining, Krebs hooked Provorov to prevent him from going to the net alone to receive a pass from Konecny. The Flyers finished the period on a 4-on-3 but were unable to score.
4) Second period shots were 10-6 in the Flyers' favor. However scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick, were 6-4 Sabres (4-1 Sabres in high-danger chances).
5) Konecny was blocked by Samuelsson and then missed a shot on the carryover 4-on-3. James van Riemsdyk was unable to elevate a chance from the doorstep. Nothing of note ensued on the remaining 5-on-4 time. After the Krebs penalty expired, Frost tried to move around behind the net on the backhand but the puck was easily covered in the crease by Houser after Frost was checked near the left post.
Mayhew's stick follow-through clipped Mark Jankowski up high at 3:46 for a high-sticking penalty. At 4:36, the Sabres worked the puck from the half-wall to the point to Skinner in the right circle. Skinner ripped a shot that got through Hart. It looked stoppable just as the third goal that Jones gave up looked like a makeable save. The assists went to Dahlin and Thompson.
Konecny, still battling, weaved his way up ice and fired a shot from the right side. It produced a long rebound but no Flyer could get to it.
Allison exited the game during the third period. He sustained a lower body injury on a non-contact play in the Buffalo zone. Later, MacEwen was in discomfort leaving the ice on a somewhat similar play, except it was a contact play.

Dahlin was called for holding a13:48. Giroux won a right draw. Atkinson touch-passed it back to Konency. Giroux moved across the slot, and deflected the puck into the net to make it 6-3..