The Philadelphia Flyers certainly backed into the postseason, finishing up the regular season campaign with a weak two months and just enough points to fall out of the East's No. 1 seed. As a result, they're facing the Buffalo Sabres in this Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, a team that was on a completely opposite tear to end the season.
Sabres Vs. Flyers, Game 1: Philadelphia Dominates First Period, But Buffalo Gets Out Alive
Fans in Philadelphia have been sitting on their hands over the course of that poor stretch, hoping and praying that their team would snap out of it when the games became meaningful again. It’s only been one period in Game 1 of the first round, but if it’s any indication, the Flyers are out of the funk.
Shots are even at 10-10 after 20 minutes and there's no score, but that's not a good barometer of how the Flyers are controlling play. They're getting the cycle game going, hitting anything that moves and controlling the puck deep in the Buffalo zone. The Sabres, meanwhile, only got one or two cracks at Sergei Bobrovsky from a quality scoring position.
The Flyers defensemen, namely Kimmo Timonen, are going a good job of keeping Buffalo to the outside, limiting the amount of strong pucks that their rookie goaltender sees. Don't expect Buffalo to go down easily. They've been a resilient team all season long, and you'd expect them to come out guns blazing in the second period.
For now, though, it’s the home team imposing its will on their opposition.
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