Buffalo Sabres v Philadelphia Flyers- NHL play-offs Game 3 (Preview)
The third game of the tied quarterfinal series between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Buffalo Sabres will be played at the HSBC Arena on April 18, 2011.
The last two games provided entertaining hockey, as the Sabres notched up a first game victory 1-0, and, the Flyers came back to win the second game 5-4 and levelled the series.
The Flyers would be high on confidence after they bagged their first power-play goal in the last game. The goal was scored by Ville Leino, which later saw them winning the game. Brain Boucher, goal keeper of the Flyers, also came up with a decent performance in the last game.
Nikolay Zherdev is going to be in the Flyers team for the third game but it remains to be seen whether he is the solution to the power-play problems that the Flyers are facing. The Flyers were one of the most dominating teams in the regular season but they haven’t clicked in the play-offs as yet.
During the course of the first two games, they have managed to score only one goal out of the 15 power-plays coming their way. There have been three occasions where they had a five on three advantage and they have blown all three chances so far in the series.
Zherdev is one of the most talented players in the NHL and is one of the most dangerous offensive players. He scored 16 goals in the regular season that saw him taking part in 56 games out of which only one is in power-play.
With an injury to Andreas Nodl’s his upper body in the last game, there was a vacuum but the inclusion of Zherdev will certainly fill it up.
"When he came in he had a lot of pop right away", Laviolette said of Zherdev's return to the line-up late in the regular season. "The first couple games he had an impact. The puck was on his stick a lot… He seemed to have lots of possession time and making plays when he first came back in".
The Sabres will be happy to return home after registering a win against the Flyers on away ice. "I think the emotion in the building will be incredible", said coach Lindy Ruff. "I think the atmosphere has always been incredible. It's our fans, it's our energy…It's going to be fun to be in our building".
However, one thing that the Sabres will be looking to control is power-play. They handed the Flyers with 10 power-plays in the second game.
Fans can expect more than 100% from both teams as a win for either will put them ahead in the levelled series.
Tags: