The Philadelphia Flyers will look to avoid a third straight loss on Wednesday night when they conclude a four-game homestand against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Flyers fell 7-4 to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday and then lost 3-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday in a game that was tightly contested.
Owen Tippett and Garnet Hathaway each scored a goal for the Flyers on Monday.
“I’m not going to stand up here all year long and talk about moral victories, but I’ve got to remember where we are as far as the organization and the process that we’re at,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “I’m certainly not going to boo the team. I’m going to help them.”
Hathaway scored with 1:37 remaining in the first period to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. It was his first goal for the Flyers since he signed as a free agent July 1.
“We’ve got to learn to hold on to points,” Hathaway said. “I think that’s something we learned the hard way tonight and something we’ll focus on.”
The Flyers, who have dropped four of five their past five overall (1-3-1), are struggling to find a way to close out games.
“We slowly got into it, and we played better as the game went on,” Tortorella said. “I thought we made some really good offensive plays in the third to create scoring chances, not only off the rush but also within the forecheck. (Frederik) Andersen, I didn’t think he looked that good early on with a couple of the goals he did let in, but he stood on his head in the third period.”
The Sabres will look to build on their momentum following a 4-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
Four different players scored for Buffalo, and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped all 23 shots for his first career shutout.
“I don’t care who it is against,” Sabres defenseman Erik Johnson said. “We needed to have a game like that, and it just happened to be against one of the top teams in the league. I think that’s a good measuring stick for us. That’s a team that knows how to win, that’s won … so regardless of who we played, we needed to have a game like that, but to have it against a team like that, it’s a new standard for us, and it’s got to be continued.”
Luukkonen’s performance was especially encouraging since it took the pressure off the offense.
“It feels great, especially now when it’s only my second start of the season, and maybe in Ottawa (a 6-4 win on Oct. 24) the numbers didn’t reflect how good I felt in that game,” Luukkonen said. “It’s really a confidence booster for me, and I’ve been waiting for a long time.”
The Sabres started fast and played that way the whole game on Sunday. The pace was much better.
It’s also what coach Don Granato expects.
“We need to be a high-tempo team, and we just haven’t been able to do that lately,” he said. “So today it was a good game to get that feel back.”
–Field Level Media
