Poor start haunts Philadelphia Flyers in 5-2 loss vs Sabres

The Philadelphia Flyers hoped to snap a three game losing streak as they took on the Buffalo Sabres on the road.

After mounting a four goal comeback just to lose to the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime, the Philadelphia Flyers looked to play a full 60 minute performance against the Sabres in Buffalo. The Sabres were riding a six game winning streak coming in, and posed as another tough matchup for Philadelphia.

Alex Lyon received his first start of the season for the Flyers after getting called up from Lehigh Valley last week. He opposed Carter Hutton in-net, who had a 2.61 Goals-Against Average with a .917 save percentage entering this game.

The Sabres kicked off the game scoring the first goal, as Jeff Skinner got them on the board off the rebound and gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead. The Flyers seemed sluggish early on in the period with Buffalo controlling most of the play. Tage Thompson added another goal soon after and the Sabres took a two goal lead just over five minutes in. The Sabres played with a very quick pace on offense and the Philadelphia defense just couldn’t keep up to begin the game.

Buffalo tacked on another goal after Jordan Weal took a hooking penalty on the power-play to make the game 3-0. This was an embarrassing start for the Flyers, who faced a three goal deficit not even halfway through the first period. The scoring didn’t stop there, as Johan Larsson netted his first goal of the season with just seconds to go in the period. This gave the Sabres a 4-0 lead after the first stanza.

Calvin Pickard entered the game for Lyon to start the second period after Lyon gave up four goals on 11 shots. This move was warranted as Lyon had no confidence in the first and looked flat-out bad. The Flyers finally got their offense going with a Claude Giroux goal put them on the scoreboard early in the second. Sean Couturier assisted on the goal with a nice pass to Giroux in the slot, cutting the Sabres lead to three.

Later on in the period, Travis Sanheim got a point shot through to Hutton while Weal provided the screen and a possible deflection. Hutton couldn’t control the rebound and Wayne Simmonds cashed in to make it a 4-2 game. It was nice to see the Flyers play with some jump in the second, who could’ve just rolled over and died after a horrid first period.

Philadelphia had their chances to cut into the two goal lead to begin the third, including a power-play opportunity, but couldn’t put the puck in the back of the net. Buffalo scored on an empty-net goal and won the game 5-2.

Yet another poor start haunted the Flyers this season. This team can’t expect to win games if they don’t begin the game with strong play.

The Flyers are now riding a four game losing streak. Next game is Friday at home against the New York Rangers.