Crisis averted … sort of.
The goalkeeper of the Flyers’ 22-year franchise had to be pulled for the third time this season and the team needed a comeback to overcome the unfortunate Sabers, 5-4, in a penalty shootout on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
Buffalo arrived in Philadelphia with 15 low points in the NHL, seven straight losses and no Jack Eichel in the lineup.
The Flyers showed some courage in overcoming a couple of two-goal deficits to avoid a third straight loss. Sean Couturier and Nolan Patrick scored in the skills competition to give the Flyers (13-7-3) their first win on penalties of the season.
The Sabers (6-14-4), without their 24-year-old pivot because of their upper body injury, saw their lost skid grow to eight games.
• Carter Hart has not been himself and the Flyers need him to get it right. They can also help you get it right.
But there is no other way to put it: Hart looked bad on Tuesday night. He didn’t give the Flyers much of a chance and was pulled out for the third time this season. In 15 matches, Hart is 6-5-3 with an average of 3.61 goals scored.
Brian Elliott, who entered the game 15-2-2 with an average of 1.69 goals against and 0.944 percentage of lifetime defense against Buffalo, converted 11 saves into 12 shots in the last two periods for his seventh win.
To start the season, Hart was named as one of the most important players for the Flyers’ chances in the postseason. He did not play as the 2019-20 Hart. The good thing for the Flyers is that they have two good goalkeepers, Hart is only 22 years old and he worries much.
• Shayne Gostisbehere scored the fourth goal in the last eight games to force extra time. The scorer came in the game of strength with less than six minutes remaining in the regulation.
Gostisbehere scored five goals in 42 games last season.
This has been a great race for him and his confidence as a creator.
• Showing urgency against a defeated opponent, the Flyers hit Buffalo with an early punch when James van Riemsdyk opened the game with a 1:56 score for the start of the action.
Things changed quickly when Scott Laughton was turned upside down six seconds after van Riemsdyk’s goal. Directly out of a direct confrontation with Curtis Lazar, Laughton was awkwardly turned and thrown headlong into the ice by the Sabers’ center. It looked like both players were confused after a competitive draw, but Lazar had something else.
Laughton was forced to leave the game, but returned later in the first period. When he returned, with six and a half minutes to go, Buffalo had a 2-1 lead. Sam Reinhart then scored his second goal in the opening stanza and the Flyers were in a 3-1 hole in the first break.
In Riley Sheahan’s 2-1 goal, the Sabers winger was left alone in the slot and kicked Hart with the back of the hand. In the 3-1 goal, Reinhart camped in the slot area for a point-blank look.
Hart was out of action when the second period started.
• The Flyers were lucky that Laughton was fine. They were already losing a striker when Michael Raffl lost the second game in a row with a swollen right hand. Coach Alain Vigneault decided to play with 11 attackers and seven defenders. Erik Gustafsson was the seventh blueliner while Connor Bunnaman sat.
Laughton showed his confident personality and scored Kevin Hayes’ goal 3-2 with a last-minute assist.
• The Flyers’ power play ended 1 in 4 and Claude Giroux’s goal in the second period came at the moment when an advantage opportunity was running out. The Flyers will take you. His game of strength was 6 to 47 since February 1 entering the game.
The power game essentially gave the Flyers the third and fourth goals of the turnaround.
• The Flyers finish their four games at home with clashes against the Capitals on Thursday (19h ET / NBCSP) and Saturday (19h ET / NBCSP).
Subscribe and rate Flyers Talk
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | You Tube