Final
Flyers, Sabres open East quarterfinal series in Philly
Apr 14, 2011 - 4:18 PM (Sports Network) - For a team that made it to the Stanley Cup Finals a year ago and enters the 2011 playoffs as a second seed in the East, the Philadelphia Flyers oddly seem like an enigma.The Flyers will try to turn the page after a poor finish to the regular season when they host the seventh-seeded Buffalo Sabres tonight in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Wells Fargo Center.
Peter Laviolette's club seemed to run out of gas at the end of the regular season, as Philadelphia posted a 7-8-6 record over the last 21 games and nearly lost the Atlantic Division title to Pittsburgh.
But, the Flyers are confident they can flip the page from the regular season to the playoffs and start anew. For some Flyers, the fact that folks have backed off the club as a Stanley Cup favorite is not a bad thing.
"I like that people are not seeing the Flyers as the team to beat," Philly forward Danny Briere told the team's website. "It's not a big deal to us. Yes, we've had a tough stretch at the end, but it was the same thing last year. You have to show up when things matter the most and I really believe, just like I did last year in my team and my teammates. I think we have guys that for some reason are playoff performers and I look around the room and I know I can trust everybody."
Perhaps the Flyers are right not to be worried about the end of the regular season, but they should be concerned about the situation in net and the health of top defenseman Chris Pronger.
First, Philadelphia enters this series with Sergei Bobrovsky as the No. 1 option in net and it's anybody's guess how the 22-year-old rookie will handle the pressure of the NHL playoffs.
Overall, Bobrovsky had an up-and-down first year in North America. Like the Flyers, he started out strong, but struggled down the stretch. He was 28-13-8 with a 2.59 goals-against average in 54 games, but just seven of his victories came after January.
Meanwhile, Pronger, who spends a great deal of time clearing the crease for his goaltender, will miss Game 1 and is his status for the rest of the series is uncertain. Flyers GM Paul Holmgren Thursday via the team's Twitter feed that the veteran "is day-to-day. He will be unavailable for [Thursday]."
The talented and physical blueliner has played in just 50 games this season due to various injuries and he is currently recovering from surgery to his right hand. Pronger, who had 25 points (4g, 21a) this year, last played on March 8.
While Pronger missed over 30 games this season, the Flyers had five defensemen that skated in 81-plus contests in 2010-11. Among those players, Matt Carle, Kimmo Timonen and Andrej Meszaros all had 30 or more points and Carle led the way with one goal and 39 assists. Sean O'Donnell and Braydon Coburn played in 81 and 82 games, respectively, and both bring size and toughness to the blue line.
However, Philadelphia's scoring depth up front is the team's biggest strength. The Flyers boast six players with 20 or more goals this season, and Ville Leino almost made it seven with his 19-goal campaign. Also, Kris Versteeg had 21 goals this year, but 14 of them came before he was traded by Toronto to the Flyers in February.
Jeff Carter and former Sabres co-captain Briere were the team's best snipers this year with 36 and 34 goals, respectively. Claude Giroux, who had 25 goals, led the club with 51 assists and 76 points.
Briere is coming off an amazing postseason performance in 2010, when he led the Flyers in both goals (12) and assists (18) over 23 games. He had 10 points against Boston in the conference semifinals alone, recording five goals and five assists to help Philadelphia erase a three games to none deficit versus the Bruins.
Flyers captain Mike Richards had a disappointing 23 goals for his lowest total since he had 10 in 2006-07, but he also added 43 assists to finish tied for third on the club with 66 points. Richards was second to Briere with 23 points (7g, 16a) in last year's postseason.
Richards is also one of Philadelphia's best penalty killers, along with Blair Betts, but Betts is questionable for Game 1 of this series after missing the final three games of the regular season with a lower body injury.
The last time the Sabres made a deep run in the postseason was in 2007, when Briere and co-captain Chris Drury led the team to the Eastern Conference finals for a second straight year.
Of course, Briere signed a long-term deal with Philly on July 1, 2007 -- the same day Drury jumped ship to the New York Rangers. Buffalo failed to make the playoffs in the first two seasons without its former co-captains before goaltender Ryan Miller willed the club to the postseason last spring only to see the Sabres bow out in the first round to Boston.
Miller did not have a repeat of last year's Vezina Trophy-winning season in 2010-11, but there is little doubt he is still Buffalo's best player. The Team USA hero went 34-22-8 this year with five shutouts, a 2.59 GAA and a .916 save percentage.
The 30-year-old was Buffalo's goaltender for its consecutive trips to the East finals and is 22-18 with a 2.39 GAA and .917 save percentage in his playoff career. Miller was certainly not to blame for Buffalo's first-round exit last spring, as he recorded a .926 save percentage and 2.35 GAA in six games against the Bruins.
Miller missed time towards the end of this season with an upper body injury, but he saw action in Buffalo's final two games. That included a relief appearance against Philadelphia on the last Friday of the regular season. Miller stopped 8-of-8 shots in 21 minutes against to help Lindy Ruff's club record the overtime win and punch a ticket to the postseason.
Buffalo had the league's ninth-best offense this year with an average of 2.93 goals per game and the Sabres had four players -- Thomas Vanek, Drew Stafford, Jason Pominville and Tyler Ennis -- with 20 or more goals.
Vanek is the club's top offensive weapon and he led the Sabres in both goals (32) and assists (41).
After Vanek's 73 points, however, there is quite the drop-off to Buffalo's next-best scorers, Stafford and Pominville, who each had 52 points in 2010-11. Stafford did post personal bests in both goals (31) and points, but Pominville had his lowest point total since he had 30 as a rookie in 2005-06.
Buffalo's defense is led by last year's Calder Trophy winner Tyler Myers, who shrugged off a slow start to his sophomore campaign to lead Sabres blueliners in points with 37.
Myers had 10 goals to finish second among Buffalo's defenseman in markers. Jordan Leopold paced the club with a career-best 13 goals, but he broke his left hand on March 25 and his status for this series is doubtful.
In yet another injury concern for Buffalo, defenseman Andrej Sekera is questionable for the start of the series with an upper body ailment. Sekera was third behind Leopold and Myers in ice-time per game among Buffalo defenseman.
The Flyers and Sabres split the season series this year with Philly taking the first two encounters and Buffalo posting victories on March 5 and April 8.
Briere stung his former club with eight points (3g, 5a) in four games this year, while Scott Hartnell added three goals and three assists against the Sabres. Vanek paced Buffalo with seven points (2g, 5a) versus Philly.
Neither Miller nor Bobrovsky played particularly well in the season series. Buffalo's franchise netminder was 2-2-0 with a 3.60 GAA against the Flyers and Bobrovsky was 2-1-1 with a 3.25 GAA.
The Flyers have won five of the eight all-time playoff series against Buffalo, but the Sabres have claimed the last two postseason encounters. The last matchup was in 2006, when the Sabres downed Philly in six games during the conference quarterfinals.
Philly was 22-12-7 as the host this season and will also host Game 2 on Saturday. The Sabres were 22-13-6 as the visiting team in 2010-11.
- BUFFALO: 1
PHILADELPHIA: 0
Final
Apr 14 10:04 PM - BUFFALO: 0
PHILADELPHIA: 0
End of 2nd
Apr 14 9:11 PM - BUFFALO: 0
PHILADELPHIA: 0
End of 1st
Apr 14 8:18 PM - BUFFALO: 0
PHILADELPHIA: 0
1st Period - 20:00
Apr 14 7:41 PM
Related News
- Flyers will reportedly have new uniforms next season Mar 30
- Preview: Those pesky Sens Mar 30
- BSH 2.0 Update - The end is nigh Mar 30
- Thursday Morning Fly By: On the road again Mar 30
- Wednesday Morning Fly By: Things are getting Frosty Mar 29
- Flyers 3, Canadiens 2: Frost scores twice as winning streak continues Mar 28
- Rousek’s Debut Lives Up to Expectations Mar 28
- Preview: Flyers host depleted Canadiens Mar 28
- Tuesday Morning Fly By: Rebuilding from the top down Mar 28
- Sabres Fall Short in Shootout Mar 28
- DBTB Open Thread - Week of 3/27 | Still Alive? Mar 27
- Game Preview: Sabres vs. Canadiens | Game 73 Mar 27