Thursday, April 14, 2011
Posted: 10:05 p.m.Updated: 11:33 p.m.
By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
This was inspired hockey, the kind we yearned for and didnt get through much of the second half.
You know what they say about playoff hockey: Its a new season.
Was it ever Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center as the Flyers played their best game here in months during a fiercely competitive 1-0 loss against the Buffalo Sabres in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal opener.
Game 2 is Saturday.
NHL
Should the Flyers play like this every night, theyll win this series, provided they get some follow chances on Ryan Miller, who was flawless with 35 saves.
We dont like the scorewe need to win hockey games, coach Peter Laviolette said. Thats what it comes down to in the playoffs. Its not like the regular season where you can be happy with the process. The process was good, but the scoreboard wasnt. We have to continue to push.
James van Riemsdyk had a monster game on both sides of the puck, on his skates, on his fanny, on his knees, doing everything possible to score on Miller, who showed no signs of his recent collarbone injury.
Remember what Scott Hartnell said this week: You dont beat Miller on the first shot, but the third. Didnt happen enough.
I dont think you will find anyone who looks at this game and thinks thats the way we played the last 20, 25 games, Sean ODonnell said. It didnt go in for us. Whether we can get some traffic or do things to throw Miller off.
Obviously, we want to get the power play going a bit. The chances were there. If we bring that kind of effort and a little better execution, I think well be OK.
Patrick Kaletas third-period rebound off a point shot from Marc-Andre Gragnani at 5:06 was the game-winner. It was the only rebound in the slot Sergei Bobrovsky (24 saves) allowed.
The rebound sort of kicked out and it was just outside my reach, said Danny Syvret, the defenseman closest to Kaleta. I tried to lift his stick. He pretty much had a gaping net.
Bobrovsky said the play happened so quickly, I couldnt react in time.
Offensively, a major concern coming into this series was the Flyers woeful power play, which finished middle of the pack during the regular season.
In one-goal games, the power play can make a difference. The Flyers were 0 for 5, including a partial 5-on-3 where they had eight shots.
Every time you get a 5-on-3 you have a chance to score, Kimmo Timonen said. We had some chances there. Obviously, power play we got to talk about tomorrow.
Maybe do something else. It seemed like we really didnt create enough chances at the end when the game was on the line.
Miller was pretty good. You dont want to lose a game. If you want to take anything out of it, we played pretty well.
They played an exceptionally strong defensive game, sealing off the middle of the ice and forcing Buffalo to shoot from tough angles to the outside.
And if there were any question what kind of game the Flyers would get from team captain Mike Richards, it was answered early with a couple hits on Mike Weber that earned each roughing calls, but established that both he and his teammates had come to play hard.
Its frustrating, obviously, Richards said. A loss is not easy and you kind of wonder where you went wrong and what you could have done.
But we created a lot, we didnt give up much, and we were pretty tight defensively. We just have to find those pucks. I think four or five times tonight I missed some tips. Pucks were just missing the net and we have to find that.
Get some rebounds, they should be fine.
We have to do a better job around the net and getting rebounds, Danny Briere said. It wasnt a bad effort. We controlled most of the play. Bob was good and Ryan was even better. If we keep playing like we did tonight, we should win the series.
All over the ice, the Flyers were hard on the puck, especially on the penalty kill, not conceding anything. You had both Claude Giroux and JVR laying out to block shots, diving to clear pucks, etc.
JVR had the Flyers best chance, hitting the right post early in the game. If that goes in, who knows?
We had some good chancesIts the playoffs, JVR said. The margin for error is so small and we showed that tonight, although we had some good chances. They made a bang-bang play and its a 1-0 game and thats it.
Bobrovsky kept it simple, smothering shots with his chest and forcing stoppages.
Although Laviolette doesnt go out of his way to do line matching, he tried to keep Timonen and Braydon Coburn on the ice when Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek were there.
Without Chris Pronger, who is not expected until Game 3 or 4, depending upon how the series goes, the Flyers will favor Timonen and Coburn for heavy minutes in games.
It was a tight-checking game, a lot of our shots got blocked, Laviolette said. We had lot of opportunities at the net. Defensively, Im sure it was the lowest scoring chances weve given up since Ive been here.
In all, the Flyers attempted 74 shots. Sixteen were blocked and 23 missed besides the 35 that Miller stopped.
The Sabres goalie faced far harder shots through 40 minutes than Bob and showed why hes a Vezina Trophy winner. The Flyers had a second period power play with a two-man advantage for 38 seconds and couldnt score, despite getting eight shots on the entire power play.
JVRs three chances, including a tip and wraparound and thread pass to net from Giroux but couldnt connect.
The Flyers not only proved they could skate with Buffalo, they showed they could sustain the attack in the Sabres end for long shifts without wilting.
Really, a terrific game, sans scoring.
We got to score goals if were going to win, Timonen said. Im sure that will be the topic Friday.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net
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