GAME 34: FLYERS @ SABRES
Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (16-13-4) are in New York State on Monday to take on interim head coach Dan Granato's Buffalo Sabres (6-23-4). Game time at KeyBank Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
The game is the first of a back-to-back set between the teams in Buffalo and the sixth and seventh of eight games between the teams this season. The Flyers are 4-1-0 against the Sabres to date this season.
Philly got humiliated on home ice, 6-1, in the first meeting of the season. Brian Elliott then recorded a shut-out in a 3-0 victory two nights later. Two more Flyers shutout wins followed (Elliott in the first, Carter Hart in the second) in 3-0 finals in Buffalo on Feb. 27 and 28. On March 9 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers had to rally back from deficits of 3-1 and 4-2 to force overtime and then prevail via shootout, 5-4.
Flyers Outlook
March has been a disastrous month for the Flyers but the club has a chance to close it out with a three-game winning streak if they take care of business tonight and Wednesday in Buffalo.
On Saturday afternoon, the Flyers beat the New York Rangers, 2-1, at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. With 4:27 remaining in the third period, defenseman Samuel Morin (1st NHL goal) blasted a shot that put the Flyers ahead. After missing the better part of the last three seasons due to core muscle issues and then two separate right ACL tears, the moment was especially sweet.
The scorching hot Mika Zibanejad (11th goal of the season, 7th against the Flyers) opened the scoring with a first-period power play goal. In the second period, Nolan Patrick (PPG, 4th) tipped home a Shayne Gostisbehere point shot to knot the game at 1-1. Brian Elliott earned the win in goal. The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. They were 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The Flyers had a complete off-day on Sunday. They will have a morning skate in Buffalo today. Lineup projections will be updated, if necessary, after Vigneault's media availability.
Sabres Outlook
The 65-minute tie and shootout loss in the March 9 game in Philadelphia was the closest the Sabres have come to a win in over a month. The team is winless in its last 17 games (0-15-2). Buffalo's last win was a 4-1 road victory over the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 23.
Since the time of their last win, the Sabres lost star center Jack Eichel to an upper-body injury, relieved Ralph Krueger of his head coaching duties, and traded veteran center Eric Staal as well as goaltender Jonas Johansson.
The Sabres are a team that, especially without Eichel, struggles mightily to score. The Flyers rank 30th in the NHL in team goals against average (3.58) but have recorded three separate shutouts against Buffalo this season. Buffalo ranks dead last offensively in the NHL with an average 2.00 goals per game. However, they have had six-goal and four-goal games against Philly in the non-shutout games.
Sam Reinhart, the only Sabres with double-digit goals (12) and one of just two (along with Victor Olofsson) with 20 or more points this season, scored two goals the last time Buffalo played Philadelphia.
Most of the Sabres' offensive woes stem from their struggles to score at 5-on-5. On the power play, Buffalo actually ranks in the top half of the NHL (23.3 percent, 12th overall in efficiency).
The Sabres' penalty kill has also been a team bright spot against the Flyers' so far this season, going 11-for-12 overall. They were 11-for-11 until 14:14 of the third period of the March 9 game, when Shayne Gostisbehere's power play tally forced overtime. Buffalo is the NHL's least-penalized team this season, both in terms of times shorthanded and team PIMs per game.
Projected lineups
FLYERS (Saturday's lineup, will be updated)
25 James van Riemsdyk - 24 Sean Couturier - 86 Joel Farabee
28 Claude Giroux - 13 Kevin Hayes - 93 Jake Voracek
23 Oskar Lindblom - 19 Nolan Patrick - 11 Travis Konecny
12 Michael Raffl - 21 Scott Laughton - 62 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 5 Phil Myers
55 Sam Morin - 53 Shayne Gostisbehere
37 Brian Elliott
[34 Alex Lyon]
PP1: Giroux, Patrick, Farabee, Voracek, Provorov.
PP2: Hayes, Couturier, JVR, Konecny, Gostisbehere.
Scratches: 56 Erik Gustafsson (healthy), 79 Carter Hart (healthy).
Injured reserve: 8 Robert Hägg (shoulder, 2-4 weeks from 3/17/21), 48 Morgan Frost (shoulder surgery).
COVID-19 protocol: None.
SABRES
4 Taylor Hall - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 23 Sam Reinhart
53 Jeff Skinner - 24 Dylan Cozens - 68 Victor Olofsson
15 Riley Sheahan - 27 Curtis Lazar - 72 Tage Thompson
20 Cody Eakin - 21 Kyle Okposo - 17 Steven Fogarty
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
44 Matt Irwin - 10 Henri Jokiharju
62 Brandon Montour - 33 Colin Miller
35 Linus Ullmark
31 Dustin Tokarski
PP1: Reinhart, Hall, Mittelstadt, Olofsson, Dahlin
PP2: Okposo, Cozens. Skinner, Miller, Ristolainen
Scratches: 40 Carter Hutton (lower-body).
Injured Reserve: 9 Jack Eichel (upper body), 19 Jake McCabe (right knee, out for season), 74 Rasmus Asplund (upper body), 3 William Borgen (fractured forearm, out 6-to-8 weeks from Feb. 23), 13 Tobias Rieder (undisclosed), 28 Zemgus Girgensons (hamstring surgery, out for the season).
COVID-19 protocol: None.
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FLYERS BROADCAST NETWORK
There are two new podcast episodes posted on the Flyers Broadcast Network that I think will be of interest to fans.
* On the March edition of "Prospect Pipeline" (recorded March 26), Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr joined Brian Smith and me for a comprehensive update of the Flyers' farm system. We talked about a host of Flyers prospects playing for the Phantoms, in the NCAA, Europe and the CHL. We also discussed the challenges involved in the scouting for the 2021 NHL Draft amid the pandemic and widely disjointed seasons across the many leagues that NHL teams scout for the Draft. To listen,
click here.
* On today's edition of Flyers Daily, Jason Myrtetus speaks with Jason Woodley of InGoal Magazine and NHL.com to dissect the mechanical issues as well as lowered self-confidence that has crept into Carter Hart's game. To listen,
click here.
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FROZEN FOUR UPDATE
Noah Cates of Minnesota Duluth is the lone Flyers prospect remaining in the NCAA Hockey championship tournament as the Frozen Four rolls around. With the No. 1 seed in each regional bracket knocked out, the national championship is up for grabs, especially with 2018 and 2019 national champions Minnesota Duluth's epic five-overtime win over national No. 1 ranked North Dakota (featuring Gavin Hain) on Saturday.
On Sunday afternoon, Boston College (featuring Jack St. Ivany) was taken out out by St. Cloud State on the heels of the same team defeating Boston University (Jay O'Brien) one day earlier. On Sunday evening, the University of Minnesota (Bryce Brodzinski) was bottled up and spent most of the time chasing the game against Minnesota State in a 3-0 outcome.
On April 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET, Minnesota Duluth will play UMass in the national championship semifinal in Pittsburgh. In the other semifinal, Minnesota State will play St. Cloud State in a 5 p.m. game the same day. Both games will be televised on ESPN2.
In addition to Noah Cates (and brother Jackson) playing for Minnesota Duluth, the team is coached by former Flyers defenseman Scott Sandelin. Noah Cates is expected to turn pro after this season.
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FLYERS WARRIORS UPDATE
Playing their first bonafide game this year, the Philadelphia Flyers Warriors were defeated by the Long Island Warriors, 7-3, at the Pennsauken Skate Zone on Sunday. More importantly, the Flyers Warriors (with a squad consisting mostly of their Tier 2 players with a few Tier 1 roster players mixed in) got back out on the ice.
Additionally, the Flyers Warriors named their new captains for this season. Congratulations go out to new captains Devon Richio (who succeeds inaugural captain Jim Young in wearing the C) and David Nawrocki as well as new alternate captains Sean Sweeney and Eric Drennan.
There will be a couple of big upcoming announcements related to the Flyers Warriors, so say tuned.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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