I don’t think it’s a stretch to call this one of the most underwhelming victories of the Flyers season. The Buffalo Sabres are one of the worst even strength teams in the last decade, let alone this year. And the Flyers were largely outplayed at 5v5. It look a stellar 2 for 3 night from the powerplay to help them keep pace.
The guys in orange only mustered 7 even strength scoring chances TOTAL against arguably the worst defense in the NHL (30th in GA/G), and only 1 in an excruciatingly inept first period from both teams.
Home/Away Chance Locations
It’s become a disturbingly consistent trend for the low slot to be lit up like a Christmas tree in the Flyers zone.
News broke after the game that Giroux was playing hurt, and that’s not surprising given the 1st line’s performance in this game. They rarely maintained zone time despite getting favorable deployment from the coaching staff and looked sloppy in their transition game.
With the first line having an off night, the rest of the lineup barely broke even in the chance battle against the Sabres.
Searching for some positives, Couturier’s unit got the better of the Sabres top line and Bellemare won the battle of 4th lines.
Berube felt the need to mix up his defense pairing before the game and the results were anything but stellar. Streit and Schultz got killed defensively, Schenn and Del Zotto were passably average.
On the bright side, Carlo Colaiacovo continues to showcase himself as possible deadline trade bait. Since returning to the lineup after being stashed in the press box for a 26 games, he has been moving the puck very well, making intelligent pinches, and even getting involved in some offense.
- Set Up – The primary pass on a scoring chance, including rebounds.
- Chance – The primary shot on a scoring chance, including deflections.
- Involved – The sum of both set ups and chances/
Vinny Lecavalier had the majority of the Flyers chances including a nifty saucer pass to set up Chris VandeVelde’s breakaway goal.
