BOX SCORE
BUFFALOIt had all the feel of the Flyers game last Friday night in Anaheim.
A bad start. A tough goal where Ilya Bryzgalov had no chance. Then, a bad goal.
And a 3-0 deficit.
That scenario replayed itself Wednesday night at First Niagara Center as the Flyers fell behind 3-0 to the Sabres, then went ahead, got tied and finally won 5-4 in overtime on a breakaway goal from Claude Giroux.
Oh yeah, Giroux had a four-point night to overtake Torontos Phil Kessel as the NHL scoring leader with 36 points.
I tried to find a hole and saw him move his stick there and put it right in the five-hole, Giroux said of the winning goal, which began as a steal off Sabres defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani.
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This was Girouxs second four-point effort this season and third of his career. He had four points on Oct. 29 against Carolina.
Two things turned this game around: A goal from Max Talbot with one tick left in the first period and the Flyers behind by three, then a fight at the buzzer right after that by Zac Rinaldo.
The last second of the first period was the key, said Jaromir Jagr. We scored a goal and Zac had a fight.
Peter Laviolettes club scored three unanswered goals in the second period after Talbot scored, then played solid defense until the final 1:35 of the third period when a blown coverage saw Drew Stafford send the game into overtime to set up Girouxs heroics.
Hes scored the game-winner in the last three Flyer victories.
Obviously, the first period wasnt the way we wanted to play, Giroux said. We got that big goal with a second left and then Zac goes out there and gets an unbelievable fight that gives us life. Then, the second period we play our game, third period, too.
The Pittsburgh Penguinsminus Sidney Crosbycomes to Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night where the Flyer will still be feeling an emotional high.
Scott Hartnell compared it to the Game 7 in the 2010 playoffs at Boston being down 3-0.
That goal from Talbot was huge because it was a two-goal game instead of three, said Hartnell, who made it a 3-3 game in the second period with his 12th marker.
Then Zac tosses the mitts, throwing some right and lefts, that gave us a lot of energy. But coming into the locker room the coach wasn't happy and we weren't happy.
Jagrs ninth goal closed out the second period scoring, giving the Flyers a 4-3 lead going into the third.
Again, the Flyers finish was better than their start. They came out looking flat and tired and were outshot 10-3 early in the first period.
Ex-Flyer Ville Leino picked up his fourth point in three games at 10:16 on the power play, the result of a Braydon Coburn turnover that led to a 3-on-1 rush to the net.
Jagr had a couple of chances later in the period to tie on the power play, but goalie Ryan Miller was very quick to defend his shots, despite some very sharp puck movement by the Flyers.
With 3:59 left, Miller poke-checked the puck off Jagr on a clean breakaway.
Sabres rookie Zack Kassian made it 2-0 at 18:55 with a long wrister that was deflected upward on Bryzgalov. A tough break.
Alas, Thomas Vanek made it 3-0 with a soft power-play goal at 19:37 from a bad angle off the left boards. Bryzgalov should have stopped it at the right post, but the puck trickled inside him.
In my experience, every time you play out west and come back and you play a game in three days, thats the hardest game. I knew would have a tough time, Jagr said of the Flyers start.
You could see for 10 minutes we had no legs. But we slowly got it.
The ray of hope was Talbot netting his seventh goal with one second left on the clock. By periods end, the Flyers were ahead in shots, 16-13, but still behind on the scoreboard.
Your goalie is supposed to be your best penalty killer, but as Hockeybuzz.coms Bill Meltzer points out, Bryzgalov came into the game with an .853 save percentage when the Flyers are shorthanded with his simply unacceptable.
He had another uneven game but was bailed out by the offensive attack.
Matt Read made it 2-1 at 5:27 of the second period with a slapper from inside the blue line with Wayne Simmonds screening at the net.
The goal was Reads 11th of the season. That would make him a goal behind rookie leader Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who began the night with 12 goals for Edmonton.
Much like that Anaheim game in which Hartnell was part of the comeback to send the Ducks contest into overtime tied at 3-3, he did the same thing here, making it 3-3 with a shot from the right circle that seemed to catch Miller by surprise at 14:45.
Thats three goals in as many games for Hartnell, six in his last eight games, and 12 overall.
I think G Claude Giroux did a good job of retrieving the puck, Hartnell said. That kind of opened it up for a one-timer. I kind of stopped and I looked for a pass right away to a guy coming into the slot.
But I was able to get the shot off. I'm not sure if it hit his stick or not but it found the back of the net.
Going into the third period, Giroux had three assists, tying him with Kessel before he past the forward in overtime with his game-winner.
Its early in the season and a lot of hockey to play, Giroux said. Just tonight, we showed a lot of character. We worked our ass off.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net.