Flyers Lineup

Claude Giroux – Kevin Hayes – Joel Farabee

James van Riemsdyk – Scott Laughton – Jakub Voracek

Oskar Lindblom – Morgan Frost – Travis Konecny

Michael Raffl – Scott Laughton – Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Ivan Provorov – Justin Braun

Travis Sanheim – Philippe Myers

Robert Hagg – Erik Gustafsson

Carter Hart – Brian Elliott

Mark Friedman, Connor Bunnaman

Sean Couturier (rib separation)

Game Report

The Flyers were riding high coming into Monday night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres after handing the Penguins a pair of losses to start the season. This game was the first in another back-to-back series, and the Philly team hoped to end the night with a 3-0 record for the first time in almost a decade.

The only change to the Flyers lineup was the appearance of Morgan Frost, who slotted into the place of an injured Sean Couturier between Claude Giroux and Travis Konecny.

To his credit, Frost had an impressive first shift with his line, creating instant energy and setting up Konecny for a solid scoring chance. But then the home team’s pace and aggressiveness seemed to hit a slow-motion button when they went on the first power play of the night and couldn’t muster more than a single shot on goal.

After that, the Flyers struggled with clean zone exits and made some dangerous turnovers in the neutral zone. Erik Gustafsson, for instance, had a big giveaway in the neutral zone which was picked up by Jack Eichel who immediately skated up ice on a two-on-one with Jeff Skinner. Instead of shooting, Eichel tried to pass to Skinner at the last second, giving Carter Hart an opportunity to help break up the play.

Most of the remainder of the period was spent in the Flyers’ defensive zone, with Buffalo peppering Hart with some decent shots. Only Philadelphia’s fourth line, and particularly Scott Laughton, showed any signs of life toward the end of the period when they had a solid shift of sustained offensive zone pressure.

Eventually, however, the Sabres were able to wear down the Flyers defense. Curtis Lazar tossed a backhander over Hart and banked the puck off the crossbar and in to score the first goal of the night.

Things did not transpire much better in the second period, despite the fact that the Flyers seemed to have a bit more pep in their skates to begin the frame. After a few minutes, however, Hart took a questionable tripping penalty in the course of making a big save and Sam Reinhart capitalized on the power play. Hart had lost in stick in net-front traffic and managed to get a piece of the sharp-angle shot fired by Reinhart, but the puck bounced off his arm and into the net.

About three minutes later Reinhart struck again when he was left all alone in the slot. Philly lost a puck battle in the corner and Eichel dished the puck back to Reinhart, who put it right through Hart’s five-hole. Just 90 seconds later, Lazar potted his second of the night when Riley Sheahan shoveled the puck through traffic in the crease and over to Lazar who was waiting to put into a yawning net.

That would end the night for Hart, as Brian Elliott was called into the game in relief of the young goaltender. Personnel changes also took center stage in the third period when Alain Vigneault shuffled his lines around, trying new combinations in the hopes of sparking something in his team. 

Buffalo, however, continued to put points on the board as Henri Jokiharju shot the puck from the perimeter and caught Gustafsson’s skate in the paint for a deflected goal. Nicolas Aube-Kubel did manage to spoil the Sabres’ shutout hopes when he potted a late goal, but then immediately took a double minor for high-sticking. Victor Olofsson finished the night with a power play goal to give Buffalo a six-goal game.

The Flyers get right back at it tomorrow night when they rematch against the Sabres at the Wells Fargo Center. Be sure to check out quotes from the game below!

Plus / Minus

▲  Morgan Frost, Scott Laughton

▼  Phil Myers, Erik Gustafsson