While the Bahamas proved to be a fun time, not being able to watch the Flyers play was the next worst thing to the drinking water down there. The past 3 games the orange and black played while I was away were a measuring stick for the team to see how they could deal with 3 of the toughest Eastern Conference teams in a row. Sadly, they did not pass the test whatsoever, dropping Tuesday's game against the Rangers 4-2, losing to the Penguins Thursday 5-4 (after being up 4-1 nonetheless) and capping it off with a loss to the Bruins yesterday 3-0. The scheduling gods have not been very kind to the Flyers this far into the season.
Already having played more games than any team in the east so far, the Flyers got to follow up this 3-game set by immediately playing the Sabres tonight. Being tired is no excuse though, and luckily the Flyers clearly came ready to play tonight...either that or the Sabres are just awful, it's really hard to tell.
The Flyers lost 5-2 when they played the Sabres in the very beginning days of the season. Thomas Vanek looked like he would lead the Sabres to at least a playoff berth this season, but he has since cooled off. Both teams lost the last seven of their games combined going into tonight, so two points for either was much needed.
Simon Gagne started the party with a power play goal four minutes into the game. The Flyers then went up 2-0 on a beautiful short handed goal courtesy of Maxime Talbot, though Fedotenko deserves most of the credit for keeping his head up and creating the fast break off the turn over. Brian Flynn scored a few minutes later for the Sabres to make it 2-1. Soon after that the chaos ensued.
Wayne Simmonds played basically the most bad-ass thirty or so seconds of hockey I've seen all season. After sending young Tyler Ennis into the boards and receiving no penalty a fight was sure to ensue. Mike Weber was the one to initiate it and for his troubles he got dominated by the Wayne Train. I don't know if Weber even got a punch in before he hit the ground. To top it all off, Weber got hit with 2 for instigating, 5 for fighting and a 10-minute game conduct. So for sending a player into the boards (which was a questionable no call) and ruining Mike Weber's weekend the Flyers came out with a 2-minute power play. Buffalo center, Steve Ott, didn't take tookindly to that chain of events, so in a very Steve Ott-like move he used that anger as fuel, not to score a goal or help his team, but gather stupid penalty after stupid penalty. (note: Ott did have 1 assist...but still, the hell with Steve Ott. No one messes with Lavy)
The second period was the Flyers best, but I have to believe that is because the Sabres were just playing terribly. They looked tired and confused out there and it's a miracle the score of the game wasn't 7-2 instead of 3-2. Giroux got his 8th goal of the year on a power play in the second. Jochen Hecht scored for the Sabres short-handed in the 3rd. By this time the Flyers were basically in defense mode and did not look nearly as good as in the 2nd, but hey a win is a win. The Flyers only play 3 games in the next 13 days, so hopefully this rest period will propel them to make a push going into the last third of the season.
ATLANTIC DIVISION STANDINGS:
W L O PT
Pittsburgh 18- 8- 0 36
New Jersey 12- 9- 5 29
NY Rangers 13- 9- 2 28
NY Islanders 11-12-3 25
PHILADELPHIA 12-14-1 25
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