Three Standout Players In Flyers Blowout Win vs Sabres

These three players had great performances for the Philadelphia Flyers in their to the Buffalo Sabres.

Following a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks in their last contest, the Philadelphia Flyers looked to spark a two-game winning streak as they played host to the Jack Eichel–less Buffalo Sabres at the Wells Fargo Center. Buffalo, on the other side, aimed to avoid a three-game losing after suffering losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders in their previous two games.

Carter Hart got a second straight nod from Head Coach Alain Vigneault and opposed Carter Hutton on the opposite end of the ice. AV also opted to put Philippe Myers back into the lineup for Robert Hagg, and Tyler Pitlick made his return from injury after missing four games with a possible sinus-related issue, which was previously thought to be a concussion.

The teams took part in a series of back-and-forth hockey through a solid portion of the first, trading shots and scoring chances with both goaltenders standing tall in the process. Philadelphia would, then, dominate the remainder of the period as they scored three goals within the final five minutes to take a 3-0 lead over the Sabres heading into the second. Mikhail Vorobyev, James van Riemsdyk, and Matt Niskanen all lit the lamp for Philly in the frame, with Niskanen’s coming on the power-play.

Ivan Provorov added to the Flyers lead in the second, scoring a power-play tally of his own to make it a 4-0 game. JvR provided the screen in front of Hutton, hindering the journeyman netminder’s ability to see Provorov’s point shot and eventually leading to the Russian defenseman’s eighth goal of the season. Pitlick and JvR went on to extend Philadelphia’s lead even further as they had a 6-0 lead following 40 minutes of work.

Buffalo would break up Hart’s shutout bid, netting a power-play goal with less than nine minutes to go in the game to make it 6-1. Outside of that, Philly cruised their way to their 19th victory of the year and their 12th win at home with a terrific all-around effort from the squad.

He’s been on this standouts list plenty of times before and he’ll likely find himself on here again, but what a game we saw from Kevin Hayes. The 6’5 centerman was nothing short of spectacular for the Orange and Black, ending the contest with two assists under his belt. Both of them were spectacular passes. However, I was more impressed with the feed he made to Niskanen on the man advantage as he pulled Hutton out of position with a shot-fake and eventually found the veteran defenseman at the circle for the game’s third goal.

Hayes was also his usual self on the penalty kill, breaking up potential chances for the Sabres while generating a shorthanded opportunity on Hutton to help the Flyers kill one of the two man advantages they faced. The former first-round selection has been outstanding for Philadelphia since breaking his ten-game pointless drought in the middle of November and was one of the driving forces for the team on offense to aid them in getting their second-straight victory.

Next, how could I not mention JvR in this one? The 30-year-old winger had performed well for the Flyers in their previous couple of games and tonight was no different. Not only did van Riemsdyk put two pucks into the back of the net, but he actually got some luck to go along with them! This was especially true on his man-advantage tally, as his wrister from the slot deflected off of Rasmus Ristolainen‘s skate and into the twine, which is something that happened quite a bit to Buffalo throughout the contest. It’s no secret that JvR’s been a bit snakebitten offensively through parts of the year, and it was nice to finally see some bounces go his way throughout this game.

Lastly, I have to make Hart my final standout of the evening. Though the Flyers did a tremendous job at keeping the rubber off of him throughout the 60 minutes of action, the 21-year-old goalie still stepped up whenever the Sabres did get their chances, saving all but one of the 17 shots he saw. He’s a different breed when at the Farg and once again did his part in letting all of the Philly fans in attendance drive home happy.

The Flyers are now 19-11-5 on the season! Next game is Saturday against the Ottawa Senators.