Buffalo drops their second in a row while in the National spotlight at Wells Fargo Center as they fall 5-2 in their final meeting with the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Sabres (29-26-8) started the game down after an early penalty and were never able to fully recover. With multiple matchups between Wild Card hunt teams, Buffalo did not lose much ground, but they now trail the Flyers by a point and are seven points out from a playoff spot.
Philadelphia (30-26-7) continued their strong push for the playoffs with five different players finding the back of the net. Philadelphia passed Buffalo in the standings and are six points out of a Wild Card spot. There is still plenty of ground to make up, but the Flyers have shown vast improvement lately, going 8-3-1 so far in February.
Coming off a strong comeback win, the Flyers came out strong and never gave up the lead. Oskar Lindblom and Jakub Voracek put them up 2-0 before the 10:00 mark of the first period. Jack Eichel was able to answer for Buffalo on the powerplay before the end of the first period, but he would only be joined by Casey Mittelstadt on the score sheet.
Eichel scores on the powerplay 2-1! great play by Dahlin and Skinner to keep the puck in the zone. #flyers #sabres pic.twitter.com/y3vO92NH1B
— Buffalo Hockey moments (@SabresPlays) February 27, 2019
Mittelstadt makes it 3-2 on a dandy! Montour wont get an assist but he started the play at the opposite blue line. #sabres #flyers pic.twitter.com/U2L2WDMGDC
— Buffalo Hockey moments (@SabresPlays) February 27, 2019
Buffalo gave up 45 shots and did not play well in front of Carter Hutton again. Hutton was still able to stop 40 of 44 and give Buffalo a chance, but it was not enough.
Philadelphia finished the game just as strong as they started, continuing to put pressure on Buffalo and find the back of the net. James Van Riemsdyk got lost in coverage and kept the Flyers in the lead through the second period. A tally on an odd-man rush by Travis Sanheim and an empty-netter by captain Claude Giroux just seconds after Hutton got to the bench closed out the game.
Brian Elliot was a wall, stopping multiple hard drives to the net and strong opportunities from the slot and wings. He made saves on 34 of Buffalo’s 36 shots and stayed focused throughout despite multiple mask changes after a shot to the face.
Buffalo has a few nights to think about this one as they wait until Friday to play Pittsburgh on home ice. Puck drop will be at 7 p.m. in KeyBank Center.
Housley on playoff race: "I think it's disappointing…but I still like the fight in our group though" #Sabres
— Brian Koziol (@BrianWGR) February 27, 2019