Sabres squander early lead in loss to Flyers

When Jack Eichel tipped his second goal of the first period on Saturday afternoon, precedent suggested that the Buffalo Sabres would hang on to their 2-0 lead over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Entering the game, the Sabres were 12-0-3 when scoring first and 10-0-2 when leading after the first period. They were undefeated in four afternoon games this season, and they had beaten the Flyers after a similarly dominant start in their first meeting on Nov. 21.
Instead, the Flyers responded with six unanswered goals, four of which came during a span of 8:11 in the third period of a 6-2 Philadelphia win. Eichel spoke afterward about the need for the Sabres to focus less on their early-season results and more on the style of play that got them there.

"That's not us," the Sabres captain said. "The streak we were on, that's over. It means nothing now. Now I think we're losing sight of what's made us successful. … I thought they just outworked us for 40 minutes and that's why the game ended up 6-2.
"… We've got to realize, we haven't earned anything in this league. Just because we won a couple games doesn't mean we're just going to put our skates on and go out there and win. Every night you play, it's a battle. We've got to realize that. They just wanted it more. it's frustrating, to say the least."

The Sabres outshot the Flyers, 9-3, through the game's first 10 minutes and took a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals from Eichel, who turned in his second straight multi-goal game. Buffalo generated 12 scoring chances in the period, according to Natural Stat Trick.
When James van Riemsdyk scored off a Claude Giroux faceoff win 50 seconds after Eichel's second goal, it felt like it could have been a blip in the radar. But the game swung in Philadelphia's favor in the second and third, during which Buffalo was outshot 26-14.
Ivan Provorov tied the game at 10:10 in the second and Giroux tallied the shorthanded game-winner with the Sabres on their only power play at 2:49 in the third. Wayne Simmonds, Dale Weise and Travis Konecny added goals from that point on.

"We thought it was going to be easy when we got the two-goal lead," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "We were playing well. We were generating a lot. Then we got away from that. It's very black and white for me. When we don't do the right things and play the way we're capable of playing you can see the result."
Housley said that in Buffalo's case, doing the right things means tight checking and taken what's given.
"We're a hard-checking team, and we got away from that," he said. "We wanted to be fancy. We didn't make the right decisions. When we do that, we're not a very good team. We're very average."
Linus Ullmark made several big saves to keep the game tight in the second period, including a dazzling glove save on Jakub Voracek at point-blank range. He finished the night with 35 saves on 41 shots.

"It's tough," Housley said. "He makes that huge save in the second period on the power play when we're on the penalty kill. I just thought we didn't check right to the end, and we sort of left them out there, especially the fourth, fifth and sixth goals. That was tough."
The Sabres are midway through a four-game homestand, which continues against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. They'll have two days of practice in the meantime.
"It was a stinker," Housley said. "We can come back here tomorrow and get to work."

Pilut's first point

Lawrence Pilut tallied his first NHL point with the primary assist on Eichel's second goal, head-faking as Flyers forward Jordan Weal approached him at the blue line and shimmying to his left to create a shooting lane.
The rookie defenseman launched a seeing-eyed shot that Eichel was able to redirect from the left of the net.

"I just saw something lingering around the net," he said. "I felt like I just wanted to get it to the net. Hopefully it would bounce in somehow."

Reinhart extends his streak

Sam Reinhart's assist on Eichel's first goal extended his point streak to six games, a new career-high. He now has 22 points (8+14) in his last 22 games.

Up next

The Sabres continue their homestand on Tuesday against Los Angeles. Coverage on MSG-B begins at 6:30 p.m. with the GMC Game Night pregame show, or you can listen live on WGR 550. The puck drops at 7.