Sabres wrap: A quiet night as Flyers bolt past Buffalo
The Sabres played without Tage Thompson, Jordan Greenway and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and lost for the second time in three games after a three-game winning streak.
It was a no-chancer for Devon Levi here Saturday night.
The Sabres goaltender made a few strong saves in the first period but got little help most of the night and ultimately wasn't up to the task himself. In its most lopsided loss of the season, Buffalo offered little resistance for the first 50 minutes while absorbing a 5-2 loss at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers in Wells Fargo Center.
Philadlephia rookie goaltender Ivan Fedotov came within 10 minutes of his first career NHL shutout in a game that Buffalo offered little resistance offensively. The Sabres played without Tage Thompson, Jordan Greenway and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and lost for the second time in three games after a three-game winning streak.
The Flyers had eight of the first 10 high-danger chances in the game and no Buffalo forward distinguished himself at all as the Sabres simply struggled to get any quality scoring chances. The final shots were 32-26 for Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Flyers' Travis Konecny, right, scores against Buffalo Sabres' Devon Levi after an assist from Matvei Michkov on a 2-on-0 break during the second period
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Philadelphia. AP Photo/Matt Slocum
The Sabres fell to 8-9-1 while Philadelphia evened its record at 8-8-2 and moved one point ahead of the Sabres in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo fell to 4-8-1 against Eastern Conference opponents and 1-5-1 against Metropolitan Division foes.
Buffalo is 4-1-0 against the West heading into its three-game California trip that opens Wednesday in Los Angeles.
First period
• Levi kept the Sabres afloat early with good saves on Rasmus Ristolainen from the circle and Travis Konecny in alone, the latter off a Dylan Cozens turnover.• The Flyers saluted former Sabres Erik Johnson for playing his 1,000th career game during the first TV timeout. He will be honored in a pregame ceremony Monday prior to the game against his old team, the Colorado Avalanche.
• Jiri Kulich had a good chance on a one-timer that Fedotov stopped.
• Zach Benson took an offensive-zone slashing penalty at 12:58 and the Flyers capitalized 59 seconds later when Tyson Foerster pushed the rebound through Levi with Bobby Brink giving the goalie trouble on the edge of the crease. The Sabres pondered a goalie interference challenge but let the play stand.
• Travis Sandheim made it 2-0 at 16:04 with a wicked one-timer from the right circle after a shift where the Flyers pinned Dylan Cozens' line in the defensive zone.
Second period
• The Flyers made it 3-0 at 2:08 on Egor Zamula's first goal of the season, a shot from the left point that deflected off Benson's stick -- windmilling it out of the Buffalo's forward hand -- and bounced through a surprised Levi.• The Sabres had two power plays in the period and lost both on penalties to Rasmus Dahlin, the first being an interference call after just 14 seconds.
• Cozens had Buffalo's best chance, in alone by Fedotov, but could not score. Maybe that was poetic justice, given that the play was set up by what looked like a clear trip in the zone by Benson.
• Philly's fourth goal came on a 2 on 0 with 2:53 left in the period as rookie Matvei Michkov fed Konecny for an easy tap-in.
Third period
• Nine seconds into the Sabres' third power play, Dahlin broke the shutout with a hard slapshot at 10:06 for his fifth goal of the season.• Levi made a strong save going to his right on a Joel Farabee deflection that came with Nicolas Aube-Kubel in the penalty box for tripping.
• Ryan McLeod scored Buffalo's second goal with 1:05 left, tapping home a loose puck off a JJ Peterka shot.
• Konecny hit the empty net with 17.2 seconds left.