The Flyers were in Buffalo for Game Six in the 2000-2001 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals facing Dominick Hasek and the Sabres. Down three games to two, the Flyers had to beat Buffalo to force a Game 7 back in Philadelphia. Coach Bill Barber would need to have his squad get on the board early and put pressure on the Sabres to try and tie the series up.
None of that happened… Not even close.
This game was one of the most lopsided victories ever in the NHL playoffs, and the Sabres routed the Flyers 8-0 to clinch the series four games to two. It sent the Flyers to their first tee times a lot sooner than they'd expected.
The first period was dominated by the Sabres as Chris Gratton opened the scoring just 2:23 into the game. Eleven minutes later, Doug Gilmour scored on the power play to make it 2-0. Donald Audette made it 3-0 at 17:49, when it looked like the Flyers were just hanging on. Luke Richardson took an elbowing penalty and future Hall of Famer Dave Andreychuk scored on the power play at 18:46 to make it 4-0. The Flyers did manage six shots on Hasek for the period, to the Sabres' eight.
The start of the second period didn’t get much better for the Flyers as J.P. Dumont scored less than four minutes in to make it 5-0. That one chased goalie Roman Cechmanek in favor of Brian Boucher. Roman was pulled after making just 5 saves on 9 shots through 23+ minutes between the pipes. Most of the chances were not his fault, as the team just did not play well in front of him. Boucher came in and recorded a save on his first shot, but the second one got past him as Steve Heinze scored on the power play to make it 6-0. Despite only being outshot 15-12, the Flyers were in a six-goal hole heading into the third.
Once again, the Sabres came out and put pressure on the Flyers and 2:20 into the third, J.P. Dumont added his second of the game to make it 7-0. The Flyers, embarrassed and simply outplayed, were chided by the Sabres fans at each whistle during the third. Just for good measure, the Sabres tacked on another goal, the second by Chris Gratton, at 16:51 to make it 8-0. Eight goals on only 26 shots – and the Flyers mustered up 24 shots. Hasesk stopped all of them, including all three of Philadelphia's power play opportunities.
After the game, Coach Bill Barber was quoted as saying the team “ran out of gas,” and veteran Rick Tocchet saying “they (Sabres) were a step ahead of us all night."
Indeed they were… With that series loss, the Flyers were beaten in the first round for the third time in four years – and with an embarrassing 8-0 punctuation mark to end it.
Mike Watson is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @Mwats_99
