Buffalo Sabres dreams and hopes end with 2-1 defeat to Philadelphia Flyers - NHL Update
Buffalo Sabres dreams of reaching the playoffs were tossed aside in the most disappointing manner as they lost out 2-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, April 5, 2012 at the Wells Fargo Center.
The defeat coupled with Washington Capitals victory over the Florida Panthers ended Buffalo’s hopes of reaching the playoffs.
This will be highly disappointing for Sabres fans who saw their team rise from adversity in the second half of the season move up from the bottom of the Eastern Conference into ninth after a 20-7-5 run in the final 32 games of the season.
The Sabres though gave it their all in the game and shutout Philadelphia Flyers for most of the time with goaltender Ryan Miller making 33-saves to keep his team’s hopes alive.
Miller’s heroics though could not keep out the Flyers in the third period as two goals from Marc-Andre Bourdon and Matt Read put an end to the Sabres bid for the playoffs.
Miller said after the game.
"It's disappointing. It's embarrassing to miss the playoffs. We have a lot of talented players on this team and we just didn't get it going early enough this season."
Coach Lindy Ruff too could not hide his utter disappointment.
"We just didn't finish. We had our chances, and we didn't get the kind of shots we needed. There were far too many chances by the wayside."
Philadelphia’s victory secured the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference with 103-points and they will now look to take their good form into the playoff rounds.
Coach Peter Laviolette was proud of his team and said.
"I feel confident about where we went in the month of March and how we played in April,"
Philadelphia started the game with purpose pounding Miller’s goal with shot after shot but the goal tender was up to the task and held off the home side.
With both teams ending the first period locked at 0-0. Buffalo upped the ante and started to probe for an opening.
The Sabres went up by a goal at 17:26 as Ville Leino scored against the run of play.
Philadelphia though looked determined to spoil the party for the Sabres and came back in the third period full of vigour as they dominated proceedings.
Marc-Andre Bourdon at six minutes finally beat Miller to score the Flyers first goal and equalise the scores.
The Sabres became increasingly desperate and tried to score the winner.
However, they failed in their attempts and at 15:39 Matt Read took the puck and skated towards goal.
Miller tried to stop his shot but was beaten and the Sabres faces collectively dropped as the score board showed 2-1 to the home side.
The playoff dream was over for another year for the Buffalo Sabres.
Philadelphia will now face Atlantic division rivals Pittsburgh Penguins on the road on Saturday while a dejected Buffalo Sabres team will travel to Boston to face the Bruins.
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