Buffalo Sabres survive the strangest blowout win you will ever see

The Buffalo Sabres logged a paltry 15 shots on goal, but they somehow ended up defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 in a strange hockey game.

Without knowing who scored five goals and who scored two, just about everyone would have thought the Philadelphia Flyers just blew out the Buffalo Sabres. And they would probably be shocked to see that, somehow, the Sabres ended up as the team scoring five goals in a blowout win over the Flyers.

Let’s face it – the Blue and Gold were horrendous offensively tonight. Flyers goaltender Carter Hart got hurt early and left the game, leaving Samuel Ersson in the net. Ersson had struggled when called upon this season, with a 5.91 GAA and a 0.760 save percentage in two games, so you would have thought the Sabres would take advantage of the situation, right?

Instead, Ersson faced about nine shots on goal, saving seven of them. How the Sabres ended up with so little to show when one of the NHL’s worst goaltenders lined up in the crease for most of the game is beyond logic. But then again – scoring five goals on 15 shots on goal also defies logic, but no one’s complaining.

Buffalo Sabres score five goals in win, despite logging just 15 shots on goal

While the Sabres struggled to get going in the offensive zone despite the final tally, goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen enjoyed another strong outing. He allowed one goal in the first minute of the game, courtesy of Joe Farabee, and another from Cam Atkinson at the 16:17 mark, and that was it.

If you’re doing the math, Luukkonen has shut out opponents in five of the past six periods in a game that initially looked like it was going to feature a lot of goals. In short, the Flyers high-energy approach was on full display while the Buffalo Sabres looked like a team skating around and waiting for something to happen.

But, the only stat that matters when the game ends is the final score, and the Sabres won the battle by three goals. It was an ugly win, but who cares? The Blue and Gold are 5-5-0, and 5-3-0 since their 0-2-0 start.

(Statistics provided by NHL.com)