Game 13, Preview and Open Thread: League's Best Offense vs League's Best Defense, Philadelphia Flyers at Buffalo Sabres
by Travis Hughes on Nov 6, 2009 4:15 PM EST
in 09-10 Game Threads
126 comments
Philadelphia Flyers at Buffalo Sabres, Nov 6, 2009 7:30 PM EST
Philadelphia Flyers (7-4-1, 15 pts) at Buffalo Sabres (9-2-1, 19 pts)
HSBC Arena - 7:30 PM ET - Buffalo, NY
TV: Comcast Network HD, MSG Buffalo HD
Radio: 610 WIP, XM 206
This is the open game thread.
Behind Enemy Lines: Die By The Blade
Riding a two-game winning streak into Buffalo tonight, the Philadelphia Flyers will put their potent offense to the test tonight as they take on the red-hot Sabres. Winners in five of their last six, they have surprised many with an excellent start that has propelled them to third place in the Eastern Conference, just five points behind first place Pittsburgh with four games in hand.
The Flyers haven't had nearly as impressive a first month of the season, but they have been on a roll lately, outscoring opponents 12-3 in their last two games. But those opponents were Carolina and Tampa Bay, and the Sabres are much, much better. It starts in net with Ryan Miller, and he's been a stone wall this season. In 11 games, he has a GAA of 1.69 and a save percentage of .941.
The defense is also just downright stingy, and the team has allowed just 24 goals all year long, a number that puts them at first place in the NHL by far. They score 1.7 goals for every goal against, a telling stat that shows you just how solid they are defensively. The Flyers, however, are the most potent offense in the league, averaging 3.67 goals per game. Those numbers are slightly inflated by the past two games, but nonetheless, they can score and will test Buffalo's blueline tonight.
Of course, they aren't fully up-to-speed. Danny Briere will miss tonight's game, still down from a "lower-body injury." Briere also suffered from the flu all week long, as did Matt Carle Arron Asham, Dan Carcillo, Jeff Carter, and Ian Laperriere. Laperriere and Carter practiced while the others did not, but everybody except for Briere is expected to play tonight. David Laliberte will again play in his place. Defenseman Ryan Parent is still out with a groin pull which means we will see Danny Syvret and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen yet again.
The Flyers will have to take it to the Sabres early if they have hopes of beating them. Will the flu bug hinder their efforts? We'll see this evening.
After the jump, a few questions to answer tonight.
Questions To Answer
- Can the Flyers jump on the Sabres early?
- Who comes out on top: the league's best offense or the league's best defense?
- Does the flu bug hinder the Flyers at all tonight, especially Matt Carle, who reportedly suffered more than anybody?
- Can David Laliberte score in his first three NHL games?
Puck drop is at 7:30 this evening at Buffalo's HSBC Arena. Watch locally on The Comcast Network, which simulcasts in HD on Comcast Digital channel 201. Listen at 610 WIP, and join us here for the conversation as the orange and black go for three straight. LET'S GO FLYERS!
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This is not a good matchup for the Flyers.
The Sabres basically roll equal lines, which negates the effectiveness of the Betts line as a checking unit. Additionally, it leaves no ideal time to sneak Syvret and OKT onto the ice.
The Sabres PK is only 15th in the league, which does play into the Flyers’ statistical strength, but we haven’t seen the Flyers’ PP get tested since Gagne and Briere were lost. The Sabres also haven’t taken many penalties, while tied with the Flyers and Thrashers for playing the fewest game, they have been shorthanded the fewest times of any team in the league.
For perspective, in the same number of games, the Sabres have had to kill off 10 fewer power plays than the Flyers.
And the Sabres are dominating the league at faceoffs.
I agree with MarioD that this is not an ideal matchup and the Sabres have historically been a bad matchup for the Flyers. Some positive notes the Sabres schedule has been a defensive a cake walk might be an understatement.
wins against PHX, NSH, DET, NYI, FLA, TB (SO), NJD, TOR (OT) and NYI again
losses against MTL (OT), ATL and NYI
They have certainly not played many teams that stand out as being strong offensively which might have something to do you Millers sub 2 GAA. Besides ATL (ranked 5th, and beat BUF 4-2 in Buffalo) none of the teams they have played are in the top 10 in GF/G, DET being the next closest at 13th the others are all ranked 19th or below. I took them a shootout to beat TB a team we rolled 6-2 be it that game was in TB but a 5-0 loss the NYI is 2 games ago is pretty bad Marty Biron got the SO.
My thoughts are we are going to score 3 on Miller it would be a matter of if our flu ridden D can hold Buffalo to 2 or fewer goals.
are any of the Flyers out for this game, i read a bunch of them were sick. About not being on CSN, i still get the game but it’s on some weird channel that isn’t HD
The Comcast Network has an HD channel that starting a few months ago is broadcasting 24/7 (it used to be turned on only for individual games) — it’s 201 for me.
I have that channel but its says Off-air for me. I know that it’s gonna be on channel 18 though. But channel 18 is listed as Rugby on my guide
by SkookFlyerfan on Nov 6, 2009 7:12 PM EST up reply actions
the game is on 201 and in HD. thanks. My computer is upstairs and my TV is downstairs. Go Flyers, talk to everyone after the game
by SkookFlyerfan on Nov 6, 2009 7:33 PM EST up reply actions
Is that blacked out locally, or does it still work?
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 7:14 PM EST up reply actions
It says they apply. I was hoping for doubleh’s sake she could watch the game that way.
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 7:25 PM EST up reply actions
Maybe when they figure out if they’re still ranking below the Clippers in attendance this season? They finished behind them last year….
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 7:15 PM EST up reply actions
Allow me to amend that now that I’ve looked it up…. The answer should be any day now. By percentage of capacity of their arena, the 76ers are dead last in attendance after the first two games with only 63.7% of tickets sold… that’s 12,944 people per game.
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 7:21 PM EST up reply actions
Iverson put people in seats; Iggy/Brand just don’t
by chillicothe20 on Nov 6, 2009 7:34 PM EST up reply actions
streaming video
anyone know where the game is being shown online
True, but we’re not playing with a lot of skill. It looks desperate, and not in a good way. Buffalo is getting way too many good chances.
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 8:05 PM EST up reply actions
But our offense isn’t displaying any skill either!
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 8:08 PM EST up reply actions
Maybe it was the kick in the butt they needed… but I can’t believe how bad the passing was in that period. I’m kind of a stickler for fundamentals, so I was not happy. I’m happy we scored, but I’d like them to get it together out there.
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 8:13 PM EST up reply actions
It could be the week off they have between every game they play…I hate the NHL’s scheduling. It seems like Pitt plays every day.
I totally agree, long breaks don’t help anybody. Not to mention how many guys missed practice this week.
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 8:16 PM EST up reply actions
I would be too, that was a nasty move.
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 8:37 PM EST up reply actions
Yea, I agree. Its a shame though because we have been dominating and they got a BS call and got a lucky bounce off the end boards.
I agree. We’ve been playing much better this period. Our passes have been getting where they’re supposed to go and we don’t look lost.
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 8:42 PM EST up reply actions
Oh my god… that’s with the $10 seats, isn’t it?
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 9:25 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah. And watching a bit of the game, I bet that number includes the players, the refs, the coaches, the press, the vendors and the hot dogs.
This town is much more of a college basketball town anyway, and for years was an NBA town because we had a superstar—the NBA is a superstar league—we no longer have one. Until the Sixers do, they won’t sell enough tickets.
Did you flip over and take a look? That’s inexcusably bad.
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 9:33 PM EST up reply actions
I dunno. Attendance wasn’t spectacular during the ’80s either (the Center holds 21,600 for basketball and the Spectrum held 18,136).
No, but it was better than this. I think Philly is more of a college BB town, and unless they have a great team/ss/winning, no one’s going to go. They are bandwagon NBA fans. I’ll admit it: I’ve never been to an NBA game. But I’ve been to dozens of college games.
I’d support them if it wasnt for the fact that I can’t watch basketball at all… I admit that I’ve been able to sit through less than 5 minutes of basketball total in my life, and 2 minutes for that was the end of the Nova/Pitt game earlier this year…
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 9:40 PM EST up reply actions
Too bad they already declared Lappy the player of the game.
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 9:56 PM EST up reply actions
Carcillo’s first multi-goal game was 10/13/2007 as a ’Yote against Minnesota. I had to look it up because I was curious.
by DragonGirl0583 on Nov 6, 2009 10:02 PM EST up reply actions
I didn’t expect them to win at all. And they crushed. Good stuff.
But the black jerseys made no sense whatsoever.
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I am glad they are still using the blacks and the whites along with oranges. I like all those jerseys a lot to be honest and I think it would be stupid if they scrapped the blacks and just did whites and oranges.
Anybody else feel as though they should use the Winter Classic whites as the new away jersey??? I like them a lot but Im not gonna get one if they only use it once.
They’re actually doing that for next season. The Winter Classic whites will become the new away jerseys.
I think the Flyers have been confirming this for a while, but here’s from Frank Seravalli just last night.
excellent
The modern whites kind of clash with the retro oranges nice to have everything in the same style if they were to keep the blacks around I would restyle thwm to match the retro look as well, orange nameplate with whites letters maybe.
Not gonna lie, this kinda annoys me. Why can’t they just stick with the jerseys they have and stop switching them around and making new ones. I love the nod to Broad Street Bullies with the throwback nature of the orange and winter classic whites but why couldn’t they do that when the NHL introduced the new Reebok jersey line? I just don’t like how they flip-flop around, making a new jersey every year. I am not gonna buy a jersey if I am not sure if they are only going to use it once or stop wearing the certain ones all together. I bought a pre-lockout orange jersey (the ugly one with the silver in the Flyers logo) thinking that it was going to be a jersey they were gonna wear consistently in the future. Didn’t turn out well. As a fan, this frustrates me . . .
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Atlantic Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Jersey
|
82 | 48 | 27 | 7 | 103 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
82 | 47 | 28 | 7 | 101 |
|
Philadelphia
|
82 | 41 | 35 | 6 | 88 |
|
New York Rangers
|
82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 87 |
|
New York Islanders
|
82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 79 |
(updated 4.12.2010 at 9:21 AM EDT)
Flyers Schedule
Next 5 Games
|
New Jersey
|
Tue 09/21 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
@
Toronto
|
Thu 09/23 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
@
Toronto
|
Fri 09/24 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
@
Minnesota
|
Sat 09/25 | 8:00 PM EDT |
|
@
New Jersey
|
Tue 09/28 | 7:00 PM EDT |
Last 5 Games
|
Chicago
|
Wed 06/09 | OT - L 3 - 4 |
|
@
Chicago
|
Sun 06/06 | L 4 - 7 |
|
Chicago
|
Fri 06/04 | W 5 - 3 |
|
Chicago
|
Wed 06/02 | OT - W 4 - 3 |
|
@
Chicago
|
Mon 05/31 | L 1 - 2 |
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