The Buffalo Sabres were off their game in a big way on Thursday night as they fell 6-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center.
Some big news was made before the opening faceoff as minutes after taking pregame warmups, the team announced that forward Jack Eichel was scratched from the lineup with an upper-body injury.
Further reports indicated the Sabres captain may have missed the contest after coming down with the flu.
Sounds like the flu. https://t.co/YN1EmwrMgc
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 20, 2019With Eichel missing Thursday's game, his 17-game point streak officially comes to an end, which is just one game shy of breaking the franchise record set by Gilbert Perreault back in the 1971-72 season.
Though this game took a while to get going, the Flyers made their shots count and busted things open with three consecutive goals in the first period. The trio of tallies came within a 4:01 span between the 13:04 and 17:05 marks of the opening frame.
The first goal came off the stick of Flyers forward Mikhail Vorobyev, who got credit on an own goal against the Sabres. As Vorobyev attempted a pass to the side of the net to defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, it deflected off the stick of Sabres forward Conor Sheary in front of Carter Hutton, and Philadelphia snagged the 1-0 advantage.
Just 2:28 later, a puck pinballed around Hutton off sticks and skates in front of him, and when the dust settled, the last man to have touched the puck before going into the net was Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk.
Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger opted to challenge the call on the ice for goaltender interference, but lost the decision upon review. In wake of the failed challenge, Buffalo was assessed a delay of game penalty and sent to the penalty kill.
On that power play chance for the Flyers, Matt Niskanen increased the lead to 3-0 as the first-year Flyers defenseman caught Hutton way out of position in the crease, and easily fired a one-time feed from forward Kevin Hayes into a wide-open net.
The Sabres only managed five shots on Flyers goalie Carter Hart in the opening 20 minutes of play, and left the ice trailing 3-0.
After allowing a trio of goals in the first period, Buffalo gave up three more in the second period as well.
Buffalo was sent back to the penalty kill for the third time at the 8:15 mark as defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was penalized for holding. Five seconds later, defenseman Ivan Provorov fired a wrist shot through a screen in front of Hutton, and the Buffalo netminder couldn't get enough on it from preventing the puck from going in the net.
62 seconds after Provorov scored, forward Tyler Pitlick got the Flyers' fifth goal of the night with another deflection off a Sabres' skater in front of Hutton.
The score reached 6-0 with 7:33 left in the period when Philadelphia capitalized on another man advantage. This time, van Riemsdyk scored his second goal of the night off another friendly bounce off the skate of Ristolainen and in the back of the net.
The Sabres finally got the board with 11:35 gone in the final period of regulation as Victor Olofsson tipped a point shot from defenseman Rasmus Dahlin past Hart on the power play. It was Olofsson's 15th goal of the season, spoiling the shutout bid for the Flyers' young goaltender.
GAME SUMMARY
Goal Summary:
First Period:
BUF: NONEPHI: 13:02 - Mikhail Vorobyev (1) (Philippe Myers, Travis Konecny); 15:32 - James van Riemsdyk (9) (Kevin Hayes, Matt Niskanen); 17:05 - Matt Niskanen (5) PPG (Kevin Hayes, Jake Voracek)
Second Period:
BUF: NONEPHI: 8:20 - Ivan Provorov (8) PPG (Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier); 9:22 - Tyler Pitlick (3) (Travis Sanheim); 12:27 - James van Riemsdyk (10) PPG (Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny)
Third Period:
BUF: 11:35 - Victor Olofsson (15) PPG (Rasmus Dahlin, Marcus Johansson)PHI: NONE
Penalty Summary:
First Period:
BUF: 15:32 - Team (Delay of game - 2 min.)PHI: 7:55 - Morgan Frost (Cross-checking - 2 min.)
Second Period:
BUF: 1:58 - Colin Miller (Interference - 2 min.); 8:15 - Rasmus Ristolainen (Holding - 2 min.); 12:07 - Brandon Montour (Slashing - 2 min.); 18:36 - Rasmus Dahlin (Slashing - 2 min.); 18:36 - Rasmus Dahlin (Cross-checking - 2 min.)PHI: 18:36 - Travis Konecny (Roughing - 2 min.)
Third Period:
BUF: NONEPHI: 10:01 - Jake Voracek (Interference - 2 min.)
Shots on Goal:
BUF: 17 (5, 4, 8)PHI: 29 (14, 11, 4)
Goalies:
BUF: Carter Hutton - 23 savesPHI: Carter Hart - 16 saves
Power Plays:
BUF: 1 for 2 (50%)PHI: 3 for 5 (60%)
Three Stars:
- James van Riemsdyk - PHI
- Travis Konecny - PHI
- Kevin Hayes - PHI
What's Next:
The Sabres come back home to host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m. with the Paul William Beltz Pregame Show with Brian Koziol starting at noon on WGR.
