Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres had to be greedy and beat the Philadelphia Flyers in regulation on Friday night. They couldn’t afford to let the Flyers get a loser point, and the game boiled down to goaltending.
Buffalo got it and Philadelphia didn’t.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stood on his head for the first nine minutes of the second period. He made save-after-save, as the Flyers outworked the Sabres.
When Noah Cates finally made it 1-1 at the 9:07 mark, Sabres head coach Don Granato did something he almost never does in the middle of a game: Called a timeout. Granato watched his team being outshot 13-1 in the period, and watched Victor Olofsson turn the puck over twice before the goal.
Granato let his team have it, and all of a sudden the compete went up. The Sabres then went on to score two goals, and outshot the Flyers, 7-0, for the rest of the period.
Ivan Fedotov started this season playing in the KHL, and the Russian goaltender was getting his first NHL start on Friday. To put it simply, he was awful.
When Cates’ goal went in, Buffalo had five shots total in the game on Fedotov, and he was bobbling everything. In the first period, Tage Thompson put a really nice move on Fedotov, who totally bit, and all the center had to do was slide the puck into the empty net.
After Granato lambasted his team to simplify the game, Rasmus Dahlin came down the slot and wristed his 19th goal of the season past Fedotov, who was out front.
Jack Quinn got the same opportunity with six seconds left in the period, and he ripped a wrist shot to make it 3-1, Sabres at the intermission.
Owen Tippet brought the Flyers to within a goal midway through the third period when Jeff Skinner screened the goalie and had the puck go off his leg.
You could see Quinn getting his game back during Tuesday’s win over the Washington Capitals. He put the game away when he ripped a shot from the left wing that Fedotov stopped, but a huge rebound went up in the air and Quinn was right there to tap in his second goal of the game.
They got the three stars right on Friday, as Luukkonen and his 32 saves was No. 1, Quinn with two huge goals was No. 2, and Thompson was No. 3 with a goal and an assist.
Thompson now has 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points in his last 13 games.
The Sabres won their third game in four, and have now won 4-out-of-6 contests. The Flyers lost their sixth-straight game.
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Everything went Buffalo’s way on the out-of-town scoreboard. That means the Sabres are now four points behind the Flyers and New York Islanders for the only available playoff spot left to them in the Eastern Conference. The Sabres are three points back of the Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings. They also trail the Pittsburgh Penguins by two points, while leading the New Jersey Devils by three points.
On Saturday, Pittsburgh hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia travels to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets, the Islanders entertain the Nashville Predators, and New Jersey travels to Ottawa to face the Senators.
Buffalo is in Detroit on Sunday to play the Red Wings.
