Sabres Erase Flyers Fast Start

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

In the first four minutes of Saturday's game, the Flyers looked like it was going to be their night. After facing two playoff teams in back-to-back games, a team that was also not making the playoffs was finally on the schedule for many of their young players to oppose.

For as great as it started, the Buffalo Sabres quickly erased the fast start in the second period, scoring four goals to take the lead in a 4-3 decision.

The Flyers came out firing and got a pair of early goals to take the lead. First, Bobby Brink got a breakaway and was stopped, but Joel Farabee put home the rebound to make it 1-0 at 1:41. Just over two minutes later, Owen Tippett got a bounce and found a loose puck right in front and was able to backhand it home at 3:55.

Through 20 minutes, the Flyers had a 2-0 lead despite being out-shot, 9-7.

The Sabres evened things up in the second, first getting on the board at 3:17 with a power-play goal from Kyle Okposo, his 20th of the season. Rasmus Dahlin scored his 11th goal of the season just over five minutes later to tie the game

At 14:06, the Flyers got back in front with a goal by Travis Konecny. That was answered just 90 seconds later by Vinnie Hinostroza. 

With 2:02 left in the second, the Sabres were back on the power play and got their first lead of the game as Tage Thompson scored his 34th goal of the season.

Through two periods, the Sabres had a 27-11 lead in shots.

The Flyers out-shot the Sabres, 10-2, in the third, due largely in part to three power plays in the period. The Flyers were unable to get the game tied up though, falling for the fourth straight game. 

Craig Anderson made 18 saves on 21 shots in the win. Martin Jones made 25 saves on 29 shots in the loss.

The Flyers and Sabres face off again on Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Joel Farabee (17) (Bobby Brink, Keith Yandle) 1:41
• PHI Owen Tippett (9) (Unassisted) 3:55

2nd Period

• BUF Kyle Okposo (20) PP (Peyton Krebs, Henri Jokiharju) 3:17
• BUF Rasmus Dahlin (11) (Jeff Skinner, Victor Olofsson) 8:27
• PHI Travis Konecny (14) (Noah Cates, Travis Sanheim) 14:06
• BUF Vinnie Hinostroza (12) (Zemgus Girgensons, Casey Fitzgerald) 15:36
• BUF Tage Thompson (34) PP (Casey Mittelstadt, Dahlin) 17:58

3rd Period

• No Scoring

Game Statistics