Saturday, April 22, 2011
Posted: 12:45 a.m.
By Tim Panaccio and Sarah Baicker
CSNPhilly.com
Tyler Ennis had an impact game Good Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
He began the game with a goal for the Buffalo Sabres. And he ended it with one too, at 5:31 of overtime, as the Sabres won 4-3 and can finish the Flyers off Sunday in Buffalo.
It was definitely a roller coaster of a game, Ennis said. But we worked hard and worked through it. This is definitely a great place to play, and anytime you can silence the crowd like that, it's an awesome feeling.
Incredibly, he thought he would be the hero. Not Thomas Vanek or Tim Connolly or Nathan Gerbe.
Everyone was excited in the locker room before overtime, Ennis said. All I know, is I wanted to score the winner. I just wanted to be the guy who ended it.
Tough guy call-up
It was a surprising moveand a definite over-reaction by the Flyersthat tough guy Zac Rinaldo was in the lineup to replace Jeff Carter.
NHL
This is the playoffs. Theres no need for a guy with 331 penalty minutes unless youre telling the NHL, OK, you wont call the rough stuff? Heres some rough stuff from usdeal with it."
In fact, heading into the game, Rinaldo had more suspensions (four) than he did goals (three). He had been ejected from his last two games with the Adirdondack Phantoms, both times in the first period. Talk about a curious decision.
All that considered, it isn't much of a surprise that Rinaldo played just 1:56 through two periodsthree shifts. He did have three hits, though.
Kaletas take
Patrick Kaleta insisted he was not trying to deliberately injure Nikolay Zherdev in Game 4 by opening the door as the Z was being checked into the bench gate.
The gate opened and Zherdev tumbled into the Sabres' bench.
Not on purpose, Kaleta said. Theres a chain and what you do is pop it open and slide downIt happens, its kind of funny. Just because I did it, whatever.
Whining II
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was asked about how he thought his Flyers whining comments would play out in Philly. He said, he only cared how they played out with his players.
I think we got a lot of motivation from their comments, Ruff said. The comment we got away with murder. I think we got a lot of motivation from that. That really fired us up, thats what I really think. When we heard the phrase, theyre getting away with murder that was our motivation.
Loose pucks
Jason Pominville went off the ice in the second period with a right legankle injury and did not return. His loss was evident on the Sabres' power play. Then again, this is just as significant as the Flyers losing Carter in Game 4.The Flyers went 0 for 5 on the power play through regulation and are now 2 for 26 in the series.The Flyers had 87 attempts39 on net, 29 that were blocked and 19 missed. The Flyers have put at least 60 pucks towards the net in four of the five games of the series.Andrej Meszaros had a goal and an assist, played a team-high 28:40, posted five shots on goal and recorded two hits.Every skater on Buffalos roster blocked at least one shot tonight except Patrick Kaleta. The Flyers are 6-10 in Game 6 when trailing a series 3-2. They are 2-14 in 16 series all-time. The two series they won were the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals vs. Boston and the 1989 Patrick Division finals vs. Pittsburgh.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net or Sarah Baicker at sbaicker@comcastsportsnet.com
Related: Leighton's return can't quite seal Flyers' comebackFlyers' rally falls short in wild Game 5 OT defeat