With Sabres captain Jack Eichel out with an undisclosed upper-body injury, the Sabres put up a performance that made their fans sick, losing to the Flyers 6-1 in Philadelphia Thursday night. James van Riemsdyk scored twice for the Flyers and Travis Konecny had three assists in a game that was out of hand after the first period with the Sabres playing sloppy defense throughout.
Buffalo had issues getting the puck out of their own end in the first period as James Van Riemsdyk scored the second goal of the game and Konency assisted on the first goal by Mikhail Vorobyev to give the Flyers a 3-0 lead after one. In the second period, Buffalo gave the Flyers four power plays with the Flyers converting on two of them with Van Riemsdyk scoring the sixth goal of the game on the power play to put the Flyers up 6-0 heading into the third period. Carter Hutton was left out to dry throughout continuing his streak of bad play and luck losing 10th start in a row.
For the Sabres, it was their 3rd loss in a row after winning four of the previous six games before that. Without Eichel, the Sabres didn’t get the boost they needed from leaders like Jeff Skinner or Sam Reinhart, who you hoped would’ve stepped up their play in his absence. Additionally, Buffalo lost Johan Larsson and Evan Rodrigues to injuries during the game, putting the Sabres in an even tighter position. Buffalo currently sits in a playoff position, but they cannot afford to have many more games like this if they want to be able to have a shot for the playoffs come March.
Rasmus Dahlin showed some leadership after the game saying “We’ve got to play better. We were too soft”. That is a good description of the lack of defense by the Sabres, a problem they have consistently had this season. Conor Sheary, who was put into the lineup with Eichel out, had the unfortunate luck of deflecting the first goal in for the Flyers. In general, Buffalo just looked and played out of sorts without Eichel in their lineup.
The Sabres did score in the third period with a power-play goal from Victor Olffoson, who tipped in a shot from Ramsus Dahlin to get the Sabres on the board.
The Sabres have a day off before returning to the ice at home Saturday against Los Angeles with a chance to snap their 3-game losing streak.