BUFFALO, N.Y. — One night after the Toronto Maple Leafs stuck it to the Flyers, 6-2, capitalizing on a litany of blunders and gaffes, the Flyers turned around and bullied the Buffalo Sabres at the drop of the puck.
The Flyers bounced back quickly and scored three goals in the first period on Monday night at the KeyBank Center, leading the way to an eventual 4-0 victory over the Sabres. Wingers Zack MacEwen, Joel Farabee, and center Noah Cates each found the back of the net in the opening frame. But when the Flyers started to let the Sabres back into the contest in the second period, fueling their transition game and allowing the Sabres to create scoring chances, 23-year-old goalie Samuel Ersson stood tall. He denied all 28 shots on goal for his first NHL shutout.
For the first time this season, the Sabres — previously ranked No. 1 in the league in goals for per game (4.00) — were held without a goal.
Allison put the game further out of the Sabres’ reach when he scored early in the third period for the Flyers’ fourth of the night. Center Scott Laughton won an offensive-zone draw, and forward Kevin Hayes fed Allison the puck at the front of the net.
At long last, the Flyers grabbed their first win of the season on the second night of a back-to-back. Going into Monday night, they were 0-6-0 when playing a game the night before.
Fourth line felt it
While the Flyers struggled defensively on Sunday night against the Leafs, winger Nicolas Deslauriers and the fourth line got in on the forecheck and helped create scoring chances, including his first goal since Oct. 29. That momentum carried into the first period against the Sabres when coach John Tortorella opted to deploy the fourth line on the Flyers’ first offensive-zone draw of the first period.
While MacEwen lost the face-off, the Flyers kept the puck in the zone. Center Patrick Brown and Deslauriers won the puck battle along the boards. From below the goal line, Brown centered a pass for MacEwen, who popped the puck short-side past Sabres goalie Craig Anderson for a 1-0 Flyers lead. The goal marked MacEwen’s first since Nov. 5.
Forecheck on fire
Since he assumed the role as head coach this offseason, Tortorella hasn’t shied away from praising Cates, who has established a reputation of being responsible defensively for the Flyers. Cates was rewarded for his hard work away from the puck on Monday night with roughly five minutes remaining in the first period roughly one minute and a half after winger Joel Farabee scored to make it 2-0.
Sabres center Dylan Cozens attempted to move the puck out of his own zone, but Cates swarmed him, swatting at the puck in an attempt to turn it over. Cozens passed the puck back to Sabres defenseman Kale Clague, and Cates pestered him, too. Farabee got his stick on Clague’s pass up the boards and winger Travis Konecny recovered the puck. While Anderson denied Konecny’s initial shot, Cates was in position to score on the rebound to put the Flyers up, 3-0.
Ersson earns the W
While the Flyers jumped out to an early lead in the first period, the Sabres woke up in the second period. They poured the pressure on for long stints throughout the middle frame, pinning the Flyers in their own zone on a couple of occasions as they fought through the fatigue of the second night of a back-to-back. The Flyers called on Ersson to be sharp in those spurts, and he delivered a shutout.
The Sabres mustered 12 shots on goal in the second period alone, including eight scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. On one occasion, defensemen Ivan Provorov and Cam York were pinned in the Flyers’ zone for roughly three minutes and couldn’t get off the ice. Eventually, Ersson made a glove save on Sabres winger Victor Olofsson to stop the play and allow the Flyers to get fresh legs on the ice. Ersson earned his fourth straight win after his breakout performance on the California road trip saw him collect three victories.
What’s next
The Flyers return home for their Wednesday night game against the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia).
