The Flyers have reached the statistical midpoint of the 2022-23 season. The team is 16-18-7 at halfway point.
After Sunday’s disappointment when Toronto went 6-2 on the home ice, the Flyers couldn’t have responded better Monday in Buffalo.
For the first time all season, the Flyers scored three times in the first period. In the dominant opening stanza, Zach McEwen (4th), Joel Farabi (9 days) and Noah Cates (5th) built a 3-0 lead. Travis Connekny With 2 assists in that period, Faraby had an assist and a goal.
2 periods scoreless. The Flyers took the initiative early on, but the Sabers began to take control of the game.
Early in the third period, the Flyers were up 4-0. Wade Allison (5th place) Scored in the set playoff of the offensive zone confrontation.
Samuel Elson, in his fifth career NHL start, faced and stopped 28 shots on goal to improve to 4-0-0. The second season was especially strong. Veteran Craig Anderson recorded his 34 saves on 38 shots in the loss to Buffalo.
The Flyers were 0-3 on power plays. The Sabers were 0-for-1 and didn’t have a power play opportunity until late in the game.
Flyers left winger James van Rimsdik Dressed in his 900th career NHL regular season game.
Flyer starting lineup
86 Joel Farraby – 49 Noah Cates – 11 Travis Connekny
25 James van Liemsdik – 48 Morgan Frost -74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes – twenty one Scott Lawton – 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicola DeLaurier -38 Patrick Brown – 17 Zach McEwen
9 Ivan Provorov -45 cam yoke
6 Travis Sanheim -77 Tony D’Angelo
twenty four Nick Sheeler -55 Rasmus Ristrainen
33 Samuel Elson
[79 Carter Hart]
turning point
Philly got off to a fast start and established a forecheck from the start. A goal from the fourth line (for the second game in a row) put Philly on the run. they never looked back.
Meltzer’s take
1) The Flyers scored their first scoring chance and first goal of the game, two games in a row. Philly’s fourth line went into goal. Brown dug out the puck behind the net and centered it in. MacEwen won the battle up front and edged Anderson to end his 27-game goalless drought. Deslauriers recorded his second assist in 2:04.
The Flyers had their first three shots of the game on goal. Sanheim he took the icing at 4:25. Loughton won the ensuing showdown. Allison played well on the ice and Hayes got a chance from the left slot. At 5:56, Cates continued to play, then stabbed his puck into the net. The shot went to his 6-0 Flyers.
The Flyers got the first power play of the game at 6:04. Peyton Krebs grabbed Lawton behind the Flyers’ net, who cleared his throat 2-1, Dylan Cozens shot, and Arson put on his gloves. York was blocked on a point shot attempt as the penalty expired. Exiting the penalty box, Krebs raced in a breakaway. Elson made the save and stopped Zemgath Gilgenson close on the same shift.
Tippett displayed explosive speed on chip-and-chase play, hitting sharp angled shots over the net. Sabers’ Thompson had a bang-bang chance in the showdown at 11:44. Ersson reacted quickly and stopped. With 6:40 remaining, Catews was denied with a close.
At 13:31, after the puck hopped and bounced around the neutral zone, Faraby slipped past the defense before jumping onto the puck. From the right circle above the hash marks, he hit a quick shot that beat Anderson low to the blockers side, giving the Phillies a 2–0 lead. Sanheim and Koneckny scored assists. Connectinny extended his scoring streak to his nine-game streak.
Cates’ constant foresight gave Connectney the final turnover and scoring chances. Cates then potted the rebound at 14:57. Faraby received a secondary assist.
Ristreinen snatched the saber from the pack in the defensive zone and flew onto the ice with it. He gave a backhand feed to Tippett, who had an open look from the slot. Tippett shot the puck over the net. With about two minutes left in the period, Connectney had a chance to score, but it was denied by Hashmark. With 1:17 left in the period, Hayes nearly scored with a sharp angled shot. The scrambling continued. The puck eventually crossed the line but was quickly shaken off.
2) Ersson only faced five shots in the first period (16-5 shots on goal edge for the Flyers, 27-9 attempted shot edge), four of which were on testers. On the other side of the ice, Anderson was under siege. The Buffaloes had a very difficult time handling the Flyers’ forechecks and were often on the other side of the pack. The scoring chances were 15-7 Flyers with a 9-2 high danger chance advantage. The Sabers said he was charged with three giveaways, all in unsafe locations. The Flyers were officially credited with two takeaways, but he could have earned two or two extra credits. All in all, it was a brilliant first period for Philadelphia, with Ersson handling the rest of his opening frame.
3) Just 11 seconds into the second period, Konekny faked a shot and dropped the pass to Farabee. Anderson saved. There were some tense moments after Tippett’s mistake, but Elson stepped up. Unit 2 restarted pressurization. Stepping onto the ice for a line change, Frost had a wide open lane in the middle but was caught by Matthias Samuelsson at 57 seconds.
This time, the Flyers produced a crisp power play puck move that culminated in Frost placing the puck in the net and JVR flipping it over from the doorstep. Anderson stopped. Car No. 2 also applied pressure, but was unable to extend their lead.
The Flyers were caught in a line change, but York rushed to break up Tyson Jost. A few shifts later, Jost had three scoring chances in the same shift. Frost his line got caught in a super long shift and DeAngelo said he was on the ice for three minutes.
Ersson stepped up again at 12:40 and moved to take Alex Tuch after Konecny and the others got stuck on the other side of the pack. Shortly thereafter, Casey Mittelstadt got his chance on the doorstep. The second period shots made it 10-8 Saber after Philly took the lead early on.
The Sabers continued to hem the Flyers to their own end. With 3:18 left in the second period, Olofsson’s shot was launched out of the air by Elson’s glove. The Sabers’ dangerous rushing deployment ended with Yost going offside. On the other side, Listlainen played well and joined the attack.
Hayes’ freebie led to some unsettling moments: Cates snatched the puck from Thompson to end the threat at the end of the shift.
4) The second period ended in a 13-13 tie, but there were about eight minutes between the Flyers’ strong start and a fairly even finish to the period when Buffalo took over play completely. Ersson was a big hit during this period. Shot attempts were 24-20 flyers. With scoring chances he went 9-7 for the Sabers and Buffalo had his dangerous edge as he went 6-4. During this period, the Flyers were guilty of several excesses. Pass open looks to make an extra play unsuccessful. On the plus side, Frost made his two strong backchecks his play, hitting an aerial his puck out of the slot to help Elson near the net.
5) The Flyers lost their first showdown of the third period, with Cates doing the icing at the 20-second mark. Sabers took control and Jeff Skinner hit the post.
One minute into the period, Sanheim interrupted a pass attempt and pulled it out of the zone to allow a line change.
At 1:51, the Sabers chilled the puck. Laughton won the left circle showdown, with Fryer making a set piece and Allison quickly heading for the net. Hayes put the pass to the right and Allison scored from the doorstep at 1:56.
Elson cleverly stopped Sunheim’s missed pick in his own net and Thompson’s follow-up attempt.
Konekny flew out of Farabee with a bank pass. Anderson made the save by slashing penalty when Cale Clark was called at 7:24. The Flyers sent his two defensemen on power plays for both units.
The team traded off some icing. With 6:59 remaining, Elson saved Jost with a shoulder.
A scrum after the whistle was unleashed in the Flyers’ net at 6:30 on the clock. Darling, Koneckney and Sanheim served rough penalties, giving the Sabers their first power play of the game.
Provorov won the fight and cleared the puck from the ice early in the kill. Laughton intercepted a rush and forced Buffalo offside 25 seconds after the penalty. Brown won the next draw and the Flyers cleared. Buffalo finally stood up. Sheeler was stabbed by the puck on Cozens’ shot, limping him, but he remained on the ice. The Flyers have a strong kill. Back at 5-for-5, Elson saved Jacob his Bryson from the top of the left circle.
All things considered, the Flyers had an excellent closeout in the third period after Ersson was frequently tested in the middle stanzas. Shot in the third period he was 10-9 Buffalo (he was 17-13 Sabre on shot attempts). Chances to score he was 9-4 Sabers but, importantly, the riskier chances were his 3-3 and Philly cashed in their only chance to score in the period.