Sabres unable to overcome early deficit in loss to Flyers

Don Granato thought his team appeared indecisive and did not play a direct game in a 5-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at KeyBank Center on Friday.

The Flyers outshot the Sabres 9-4 in the opening period, scoring three goals to give Philadelphia a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission that would prove to be difficult for Buffalo to come back from.

“We could have scored but let’s face it, we didn’t play the way we needed to play. It starts with playing faster and more direct and we were not direct enough, and that was the difference in the game,” Granato said.

The Sabres found themselves down 1:03 in when Joel Farabee entered the Sabres’ zone and dropped a pass back to Scott Laughton, who worked a give-and-go with Bobby Brink before releasing a shot from the left circle to put the Flyers up 1-0.

Philadelphia found the back of the net once again 28 seconds later as the puck deflected in front of the Sabres’ net and landed onto the stick of Louie Belpedio on the right wing for his first career NHL goal.

Following a Sabres turnover at the Flyers’ blue line, Travis Konecny picked up the loose puck and beat goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on the breakaway to extend the lead with 5:03 remaining in the first.

“They outworked us in that first period, for sure, and that’s not something we’re going to take lightly and that’s not something we should ever be saying after a game is we got outworked,” Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said.

Despite holding a 12-6 advantage in shots during the second period, the Sabres were unable to solve goaltender Samuel Ersson, who stopped all 12 shots he faced in the second to allow the Flyers to build off their lead. Nicolas Deslauriers found Garnet Hathaway alone on the doorstep with 5:25 left to put the Sabres down 4-0 with one period to go.

Granato believed that overhandling the puck and turning it over prevented his group from getting more pucks to the net.

“Have to be more decisive, absolutely. We have to be willing to put pucks behind,” Granato said. “Too many turnovers cost us, playing in front, not playing behind or putting pucks behind. … You could see we had shots blocked from the point because we had opportunity to get it to the net quicker, we didn’t, and the shot was blocked.”

Buffalo showed some life early in the third when Henri Jokiharju ripped a shot from the high slot to put the Sabres on the board 2:23 in, but Ersson remained stellar in the crease for the Flyers, stopping all six shots he faced in the final period and finishing with 21 saves on 22 shots.

Here are more notes from Friday’s game.

1. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson left the game in the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return.

Granato did not yet have an update during his postgame press conference.

2. Credited with the assists on Jokiharju’s goal, JJ Peterka and Casey Mittelstadt extended their point streaks.

Peterka is now riding a four-game point streak with two goals and two assists in that span. Mittelstadt tallied a point in his third consecutive game, tallying four points in three games (2+2).

3. The Sabres’ penalty kill, which entered the night ranked fifth in the league, was a perfect 2-for-2 against the Flyers.

Erik Johnson led Buffalo in shorthanded ice time (2:19) while playing on the top penalty-kill unit.

4. Granato put Mittelstadt on the top power-play unit in an effort to generate more chances and gain momentum.

“Well, in a game like tonight, it could have changed momentum for us. We did obviously shift Mittelstadt into that unit and it did look better as a result of that, but didn’t convert and there were a couple opportunities there that they generated,” Granato said. “Again, I think even the stuff we generated, because we weren’t decisive.”

Up next

The Sabres travel to Toronto on Saturday for a matchup with the Maple Leafs. Coverage on MSG/MSG+ begins at 6:30 p.m. The puck drops at 7 on MSG and WGR 550.