NHL Update: Philadelphia Flyers defeat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1
This 78th game of the NHL preseason was sure to be an exciting battle between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Buffalo Sabres. The match took place at the Fargo Wells today, home of the Philadelphia Flyers with an attendance of almost 19,000. The
Philadelphia Flyers were on the hunt for their second win in 2 days and were able to do so by winning this game 3-1.
First period
Both the teams started the period reluctant to go on the offence. This was simple because of the fact that Philadelphia Flyers and the Buffalo Sabres were very strong on counter attacks. However, this resulted in slow beginning to the period but later this
was all to change.
As both teams settled, they were able to make good plays and come up with goal scoring attempts. This was another one of the games today that saw the goal keepers dominate the proceedings. During the early part of the period, it was the Philadelphia Flyers
who were firing shots and Ryan Miller, goalie of the Buffalo Sabres was no less than a brick wall.
On the contrary, when the Buffalo Sabres started to overpower the Philadelphia Flyers during the course of the game, then it was Brain Boucher who seemed to the invincible one. Firing regular shots that were bullet fast and potentially goal scoring, the
goal keepers did an excellent job to keep the score level on 0-0.
The period with the teams deadlocked with the Buffalo Sabres coming up with 11 shots and the Philadelphia Flyers managed 8 goal attempts.
Second period
Continuing with the performance of the first period and backed by the home crowd, the Philadelphia Flyers were able to stomp their authority once again. Not only did they come up with extravagantly smooth and pin point passes but even scored in the 3rd
minute.
The spectacular move put the home team in the lead with 1-0 in their favour. The goal was scored by Nikolay Zherdev from a distance of 10 feet. The Flyers were looking to crush the Buffalo Sabres with the offense they were showing.
Showing excellent skills in every department from defence to offence and from passing to shooting, the Philadelphia Flyers scored once again in the 8th minute and established a 2 goal lead. This time the goal was scored by James Van Riemsdyk through
9 feet wrist off.
After this goal, the Philadelphia Flyers were content on not letting the lead slip and contain. They came up with tight, non-porous defensive backline but the Sabres got past it once or twice but couldn’t score. The period ended with the score 2-0 in favour
of the home team.
The Buffalo Sabres made 11 unsuccessful goal attempts, whereas the Philadelphia Flyers made 14 attempts out of which they scored two times. The Buffalo Sabres finished the period strongly as they made 5 of their 11 attempts in the last 2 minutes.
Third period
The Buffalo Sabres carried their form into the third period and hit two consecutive goal attempts out of which one went to the back of the net. This took the score to 2-1 and a chance for the Buffalo Sabres to make a comeback.
The goal was scored by Derek Roy through a fabulous backhand. With a slender lead, the Philadelphia Flyers looked to form a tight defence which they had during the early stages of the match. They were successful in doing so with occasional lapse in the defence.
The Buffalo Sabres got an open chance in the 11th minute to score but Derek Roy couldn’t score for the 2nd time by hitting the shot wide. The rest of the period was totally dominated by the Philadelphia Flyers defence.
With just 1 goal’s difference, the Buffalo Sabres pressed forward to score and level things but this was not to be, as their hopes were completely shut in the last minute. The Philadelphia Flyers scored through Blair Betts and sealed the victory 3-1.
At last, this period witnessed the Philadelphia Flyers scoring once out of 4 goal attempts and the Buffalo Sabres also scoring once out of the 11 goal attempts.
Tags: