PREVIEW 6:30 AM
Coming off an extremely poor performance last night in Columbus, the Flyers (3-4-1) return to the Wells Fargo Center tonight to take on the Buffalo Sabres (3-5-1). Frankly, I have no idea what to expect from this game coming in. It all depends on which Flyers and/or Sabres teams decide to show up. Will it be ones who have struggled for goals and played disinterested hockey in their combined 11 losses? Or will it be the one who played excellent two-way hockey last season en route to becoming Northeast Division champions last season taking on the one that came agonizingly close to winning the Stanley Cup?
The Columbus Blue Jackets deserve credit for the work ethic they displayed last night in beating the Flyers, 2-1, but the effort the Flyers turned in during the first 40 minutes of the game was not professional caliber. They played like they had no jump or energy in their legs. You could understand that during a long trip or late in the season. Not in October when you've been playing on an every-other-day basis since having four days off. There was precious little second effort and the team was outskated, outhit and generally outworked by the Blue Jackets until finally playing with a sense of urgency in the third period when they were down 2-0.
The only bright spot in the game last night was that the line of Scott Hartnell, Danny Briere and Ville Leino held up its end of the bargain (although even they were not as consistently good as they'd been the previous two games). Otherwise, you can look at virtually every aspect of the game, including special teams, and there wasn't much to like. It was disappointing after the club had seemed to be moving in the right direction.
Buffalo is coming off a 6-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. Thomas Vanek scored twice, while Ryan Miller made 26 saves. The game, of course, was more notable for the healthy scratching of Ilya Kovalchuk. The Sabres have actually been a much better road than home team so far this season, going 0-4-1 in HSBC Arena and 3-1-0 away.
Derek Roy leads the Sabres with 9 points (5 G, 4 A), while Vanek (3 G, 2 A) had struggled prior to the Devils game. Calder Trophy winner Tyler Myers (minus-8, 3 PTS) has fallen victim to the sophomore slump so far, while reigning Vezina winner Miller (2.27 GAA, .920 SV%) has done his part so far.
Last season, Buffalo took three of four in the season series with the Flyers. Philly took the first game on the road, 5-2, but then lost by a pair of 3-2 scores and 4-2.
Tonight is Barry Ashbee Banner Night at the Wells Fargo Center. All fans will receive a replica of the retired jersey banner that hangs in the arena and there will be an on-ice ceremony to present Ashbee's widow, Donna, with the now-replaced banner from the rafters. For more on Ashbee's career and life, see the
Heroes of the Past article I wrote on him for Philadelphiaflyers.com
Possible lineup (based on last game and subject to change)
FLYERS
JVR - Carter - Zherdev
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Powe - Richards - Giroux
Shelley - Betts - Carcillo
Pronger - Carle
Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - O'Donnell
Bobrovsky
[Boucher]
SABRES
Vanek - Roy - Stafford
Hecht - Connolly - McCormick
Ennis - R Niedermayer - Grier
Gerbe - Gaustad - Kaleta
Butler - Myers
Leopold - Montador
Weber - Sekera
Miller
[Lalime]
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