Flyers

Flyers-Sabres: Game 35 Preview

Kevin Durso Sports Editor

Published31 Mar 2021

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By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor

In many ways, Monday's game was still a disaster no matter how you spin it. Perhaps for the Flyers, it was more of a gigantic crisis averted, since a regulation loss to the Buffalo Sabres would have likely put to bed any talks of the playoffs. But the Flyers have some life in that race after rallying for the win. It continues to be about what they do with it next.

That next game comes on Wednesday night, as the Flyers face the Sabres again. The Flyers are continue to try to keep their dimming playoff hopes alive, while the Sabres look to avoid carrying their winless streak to 19 games.

Game time is at 7:30 p.m.

Team Leaders

Philadelphia Flyers	GP	G	A	P	Buffalo Sabres	GP	G	A	P
James van Riemsdyk	34	13	18	31	Sam Reinhart	32	12	9	21
Joel Farabee	33	14	13	27	Victor Olofsson	34	9	12	21
Claude Giroux	32	9	18	27	Taylor Hall	34	2	16	18
Sean Couturier	23	10	16	26	Jack Eichel	21	2	16	18
Jake Voracek	31	5	21	26	Rasmus Dahlin	34	2	10	12

Joel Farabee spent the final 20 minutes of regulation and the brief overtime of Monday's game glued to the bench. With the Flyers back into their usual rotation for Wednesday night, hopefully the benching brings a motivated Farabee back into the mix.

Victor Olofsson is a quality shooter and can definitely produce offense. While the Sabres didn't get much from their top guys on Monday, they will be poised to get production from them in Wednesday's game if the same mistakes are repeated.

Brian Elliott gets another start on Wednesday night. After a rough start, allowing three goals in the first two periods of Monday's game, Elliott locked things down in the third and picked up another win over Buffalo. He looks to continue his success against the Sabres on Wednesday.

After playing a strong game through two periods, Linus Ullmark ended up on the hook for the loss in Monday's game. Ullmark has solid numbers individually this season, though his record shows the level of play in front of him.

Projected Lineups

Flyers Scratches: Morgan Frost (injury), Robert Hagg (injured), Carter Hart (healthy), Oskar Lindblom (healthy), Nolan Patrick (healthy), Shayne Gostisbehere (healthy)

Sabres Scratches: Jack Eichel (injury), Jacob Bryson (injury), Rasmus Asplund (injury), Carter Hutton (injury), William Borgen (injury)

Lineup Notes

Flyers: Shayne Gostisbehere did clear waivers on Wednesday, but he will not be in the lineup. Gostisbehere was moved to the taxi squad to open up roster spots for Connor Bunnaman and Carsen Twarynski. Those two will enter the lineup for Oskar Lindblom and Nolan Patrick. Erik Gustafsson will enter defensively for Gostisbehere and be paired with Sam Morin.
Sabres: The only expected change to the lineup for Buffalo comes as Steven Fogarty will enter for the injured Dylan Cozens. The forward lines have been shuffled in Cozens' absence. The rest of the group stays the same.

Game Notes

Power Play: Flyers (17th), Sabres (T-13th)
Penalty Kill: Flyers (28th), Sabres (T-16th)
Recent History vs. Sabres
- Jan. 18, 2021 – Sabres 6, Flyers 1 (at PHI)
- Jan. 19, 2021 – Flyers 3, Sabres 0 (at PHI)
- Feb. 27, 2021 – Flyers 3, Sabres 0 (at BUF)
- Feb. 28, 2021 – Flyers 3, Sabres 0 (at BUF)
- March 9, 2021 – Flyers 5, Sabres 4 (F/SO) (at PHI)
- March 29, 2021 – Flyers 4, Sabres 3 (F/OT) (at BUF)
Flyers Leaders vs. Sabres
- Claude Giroux – 44 GP, 12 G, 30 A, 42 P
- Joel Farabee – 7 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 5 P
- Sean Couturier – 27 GP, 7 G, 15 A, 22 P
- Jake Voracek – 37 GP, 5 G, 23 A, 28 P
- Brian Elliott – 22 GP, 17-2-2, 1.74 GAA, .941 SV%
Milestone Watch
- Michael Raffl plays in his 500th NHL game tonight.