Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Sabres had a full building in Downtown Buffalo on Friday night, and were looking for a third-straight win and fourth win in five games.
However, the Philadelphia Flyers had other ideas, blowing the Sabres out of their own building, 5-1.
Buffalo was going up against a backup goalie in Samuel Ersson, as well as a bad Flyers defensive group. However, when you get outworked, you will lose almost every time.
Tage Thompson turned the puck over in the neutral zone very early in the first period, and it turned into Flyers forward Joel Farabee screening goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as Scott Laughton scored the opening goal at the 1:03 mark.
Just 28 seconds later, Henri Jokiharju was in front and swept at a puck, knocking it right to Flyers defenseman Louie Belpedio, who put the puck into a wide-open net for his first NHL goal.
So here the Sabres were, just 1:31 into the game, and already down 2-0.
There was still plenty of hockey left, had they settled down and gotten to their game, but getting four first period shots on goal wasn’t going to get that done.
Another sloppy play by JJ Peterka later in the period wound up sending Travis Konecny in alone on a breakaway, and his ninth goal of the season made it a 3-0 game by period's end.
The fans, of course, loudly booed the team off the ice, and they deserved it.
Buffalo finally got a bit of a shooting mentality in the second period, getting 12 shots on Ersson, but they didn’t make things hard on the Flyers goalie. It was Ersson that beat the Sabres 4-0 last year, and he's the only goalie to beat Buffalo twice in regulation while the home team sported its "goathead" jerseys.
Buffalo had a glimmer of hope very early in the third period when Rasmus Dahlin set up Peterka in front with a wide-open net, but the puck went through the goal crease and out the other side.
Casey Mittelstadt was able to set up Jokiharju for a goal 2:24 into the third period, but that didn’t fire up the team.
It was nice to see Dylan Cozens show some frustration and emotions at the end of the game, as he ended up fighting Garnet Hathaway.
Cozens has been struggling lately, and it may have boiled over on Friday night. He can be a catalyst for this team, and he can’t get down because as of right now, Mittelstadt and Thompson are the team’s top-two centers.
Buffalo needs Cozens, and need the type of game he plays.
Related
It was a rough night for Owen Power, as he was on the ice for all five Philadelphia goals. Coming into the game, he was the team leader at plus-9.
I’m not real concerned about him. At 20-years-old, there will be the occasional bad game here-and-there. He should be fine.
The most concerning thing for me is the Sabres still have problems on home ice. Buffalo is currently 3-4 in their own building, and that’s not remotely good enough.
If there's any good news, the Sabres have to wipe the slate clean as they are in Toronto on Saturday to face the Maple Leafs.
Join Brian Koziol for Saturday's pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. ET.
