Philadelphia Flyers get all the bounces in 6-3 win over Buffalo Sabres
Sometimes it take a good ol' fashioned hockey fight to wake up a team if they're playing like they're asleep on the ice. That’s exactly what happened as the Philadelphia Flyers cruised to a 6-3 win over
the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, 26 October.
How it happened
The scoring opened with a power play goal from Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek at 8:54 of the first period. Steve Montador and Derek Roy were credited with the assists on Vanek’s fourth goal of the 2010-11 campaign.
Daniel Briere tied the game at one goal apiece with his power play marker at 15:15. The assists went to Jeff Carter and Chris Pronger.
Philly dominated in the second period, scoring a trio of unanswered goals. The first one came from Nikolay Zherdev on a snap shot that beat Sabres goaltender 4:43 into the frame. Scott Hartnell and Braydon
Coburn provided the assists. Darroll Powe scored his second goal of the season at 11:44 of the second, with a little help from Claude Giroux and Carter. The Flyers’ power play proved effective again, as Giroux tipped in a goal at 14:36 that was unassisted.
The third period saw the two teams trade goals. After earning two assists earlier, Carter finally scored a goal of his own on the power play 38 seconds into the period. Tyler Myers then scored Buffalo’s
second power play goal of the game at 7:10, while Montador got his first of the season at 12:32. Andreas Nodl would go on to add an empty-net goal at 19:24 that would give the Flyers the win.
What they’re saying
The team with the better momentum is the one that usually wins the game, and veteran defenceman Sean O’Donnell’s first-period fight against Cody McCormick may have sparked the team.
“Once they (Buffalo) scored and I saw who was on the ice, I didn’t want to take a penalty or do anything silly,” O’Donnell said.
“But if there was a chance to do something to help get the bench going or get the crowd going, I was going to try it. Guys can contribute in different ways, and I felt that the time was right to try and
do something. It worked out well.”
Even Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette thought that O’Donnell’s fight may have been a game-changer for the team.
“I thought the momentum switched around then,” Laviolette said of the fight. “We were sluggish in the first five minutes of the first and that seemed to be the turning point there. It seemed to bring a
little energy to the building, a little energy to the bench, and we were able to play better hockey.”
Both teams will play again on Friday, 29 October, when the Flyers visit the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Sabres face the Atlanta Thrashers.
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