Philadelphia Flyers double-up Buffalo Sabres, 4-2: NHL Play-off Recap
Nikolay Zherdev lit the lamp with the game-winning goal in the second period, as the Philadelphia Flyers continued its surge with a 4-2 victory against the Buffalo Sabres in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference quarter-final series, at HSBC Arena on Monday
night.
Danny Briere and Jeff Carter each also hit the net for Philadelphia, which has improved to 6-0-2 in its previous eight games against Buffalo, including the regular season and is looking for a commanding lead in the series in Game 4 on Wednesday night
in Buffalo.
Kimmo Timonen notched an empty-net goal and Marc-Andre Gragnani assisted twice, while Brian Boucher turned away 35 shots to earn the victory.
Drew Stafford and Nathan Gerbe each found the back of the net for Buffalo, which has dropped straight contests for the first time since ending a three-game losing streak February 23 and was just 1-for-6 on the power play on Monday night. Ryan
Miller turned aside 22- of-25 shots in the losing effort.
The Flyers drew the first blood just less than five minutes into the opening period, when Patrick Kaleta was sent in the box for roughing and Carter ripped a shot deep from the neutral zone that flicked off Buffalo's defenseman. Carter succeeded to
grab the puck again at the right circle and unleashed a snap-shot that sneaked in under Miller's arm for 1-0 lead.
Sabres, though, tied the game at 1-1 with a power-play goal with about eight minutes remaining in the first period. The play was set up by Jason Pominville, who swept a pass from the right circle over to the front for Stafford, who blasted a wrist
shot into the left corner through a screen.
The Flyers went on top, 2-1, again just less than three minutes into the second period. It happened so when Scott Hartnell was given a double-minor for interference and delay of game, but he succeeded to kill of the penalty and took advantage on Chris
Butler's giveaway at the side of the Buffalo net.
Hartnell controlled the puck behind the right side of the net and sent it to the front, where Briere jammed it into the right corner with a one-timer.
The Flyers then took two-goal edge, 2-0, with a little over three minutes left in the second period. Philadelphia took advantage of another Buffalo’s miscue, as forward, Cody McCormick, over skated the disc at the left board inside his own zone, making
Kris Versteeg able to grab the puck and sweep a pass over to the left circle. Mike Richards took the puck and passed it down to the low right side where a wide-open Zherdev stuffed it at the right post.
The Sabres again made it a one-goal game, 3-2, just 1 ½ minutes later. The goal came when Tim Connolly rifled a shot from the right circle that Boucher saved, but he let go a big rebound that trickled out to the left side. Gerbe took advantage of Boucher’s
only mistake and beat him to the glove side.
"You wanna score when you're handed a two-man advantage, especially a lone one," said Gerbe. "But it's gonna happen that you don't score especially when you're playing as good a team as those guys on the other side. Still, it's disappointing that we
weren't able to tie it up there."
Boucher then preserved Flyers’ one-goal edge by stopping a low shot from Tyler Ennis at the low right side just 3 ½ minutes into the final session. After few minutes Sabres got a golden chance to pull an equaliser on a power-play, but Darroll Powe
took a foolish charging call to give the Buffalo 1:15 of 5-on-3 play.
However, Ennis again found himself down low and let go a shot that hit the left side of the goalie's mask. Philadelphia’s penalty killers were able to keep the play away from Boucher for the rest of the power-play and Timonen then wrapped up the win
at 4-2 with an empty-net goal in the waning minutes.
Tags: