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Buffalo Sabres Look For Victory Against Philadelphia Flyers

By Melissa Kania

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The Buffalo Sabres will look for their first win in the City of Brotherly Love tonight as they visit the Philadelphia Flyers for an 8 p.m. matchup at Wells Fargo Center.

The Sabres (16-37-4) head into tonight’s game coming off the heels of Tuesday’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Devils. Tyler Ennis scored the lone goal for Buffalo, while Michal Neuvirth had 34 saves.

Meanwhile, the Flyers (24-23-10) are also coming off a loss – suffered 5-2 on Tuesday at the hands of the Blue Jackets. With their first regulation loss since January 19, the Flyers had a nine-game point streak snapped.

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One moment of note, however: the Flyers recorded a season-high 44 shots on Tuesday, with all but two skaters recording at least one shot. They had a total of 85 shot attempts. That’s one mark the Buffalo Sabres will have to contain tonight.

The good news is this: seven of the Buffalo Sabres’ last nine games have been decided by one goal. Even though the Sabres have won just two of their last nine, it’s a sign of improvement that teams aren’t getting away with huge leads or decisive wins.

Tonight’s game is the third and final meeting between the Buffalo Sabres and the Flyers this season. The Sabres are 2-8-0 in their last 10 games against the Flyers, but are 11-8-2 on February 19 in team history.

The team looks for its first win in Philadelphia since March 5, 2011, having lost the last five games in the City of Brotherly Love.

Cody McCormick, Josh Gorges and Patrick Kaleta all remain out of the lineup tonight with lower-body injuries. Evander Kane also remains on IR with a shoulder injury.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

For Buffalo, keep an eye on Tyler Ennis, who has six points (3-3) in his last six road games. He also has six points in eight career road games against the Flyers, and overall leads the Buffalo Sabres with 14 goals, 18 assists, 32 points and 130 shots on goal.

Center Zemgus Girgensons is tied with Ennis for the team lead in goals (14). He overall has 27 points on the season and has registered 108 shots on goal. Girgensons also has a 44.2 faceoff percentage.

Also keep an eye out for Nicolas Deslauriers, who was tied for eighth in the NHL entering Wednesday with 185 hits on the season. Deslauriers leads the Sabres in hits, while Zach Bogosian (121), Mike Weber and Zemgus Girgensons (117 each) are also throwing the body out there.

Finally, Sabres captain Brian Gionta needs one point to reach 500 career NHL points. Once he does so, he’ll be the 62nd active NHLer and 49th American player in league history to accomplish that feat.

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    • For the Flyers, keep watch on right winger Jakub Voracek, who leads the team in assists (42) and points (60). He also leads the team with 53 penalty minutes.

    Captain Claude Giroux leads the Flyers with 197 shots in 56 games – an average of 3.5 shots/game. He also has 39 assists and a total of 55 points, just shy of averaging a point-per-game. Giroux is especially dangerous on the power play (27 points).

    Also keep watch on right winger Wayne Simmonds, who leads the Flyers with 22 goals on the season. Simmonds also has 17 assists for a total of 39 points in 57 games. He has a team-leading 12 power-play goals.

    Put it all together and it’s easy to see that some of Philly’s top guys are downright dangerous with the man advantage. Limiting the number of chances the Flyers get on the PP will be a key to tonight’s game for the Sabres.

    Tonight’s game opens the 14th set of back-to-back games for the Buffalo Sabres this season. After this evening’s bout with the Flyers, they’ll return home to host the New York Rangers on Friday. Tonight’s game is also the second game in a set of four games in six nights for the Buffalo Sabres.

    The puck drops at 8 p.m. at Wells Fargo Center.

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