John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (7-8-2) are home on Saturday evening to host Lindy Ruff's Buffalo Sabres (8-8-1). Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EST.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of three meetings this season between the Flyers and Sabres. The clubs will rematch twice during the stretch drive: March 29 in Philadelphia and April 5 in Buffalo.
The Flyers enter this game having played a franchise record four straight games that have been decided beyond regulation. Thursday's 5-4 road overtime win against the Ottawa Senators came about from a third period comeback of a two-goal deficit. The Flyers are 3-0-1 over the last four games. For the season, the Flyers have three regulation victories, one overtime win and a pair of wins via shootout.
Here are five things to watch in Saturday's game:
1. Tall order for Fedotov
Samuel Ersson, the Flyers' primary starting goaltender, sustained a lower-body injury during the morning skate in Ottawa on Thursday. He is not expected to miss a lengthy amount of time. However, he is not likely to be available for the next few games.
Ivan Fedotov, for the second time this month, stepped up in a pinch to backstop the Flyers to a win. He previously did so in Tampa Bay on Nov. 7 after originally scheduled starter Aleksei Kolosov sustained a minor injury at practice the previous day.
Fedotov's save percentage for the game in Ottawa -- due to two Tampa power play goals, 29 shot blocks by the Flyers and a modest third period shot total after peppering Fedotov with 28 shots on goal through two periods -- did not reflect how well he played in that game. The Flyers need a similar performance from the 6-foot-7 Russian netminder on Saturday against the Sabres.
2. Michkov watch
After not dressing for road games against Tampa Bay and Florida, Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov has returned with a vengeance over the past two games. He had a perfectly timed power play assist and a breakaway goal against the San Jose Sharks. In Ottawa, Michkov banked home the winning goal in overtime from an almost impossibly flat angle along the goal line.
In 15 games played to date, Michkov has posted 13 points (six goals, seven assists). The 19-year-old right winger leads all NHL rookies in goals and is one point beyond Dallas Stars playmaking winger Logan Stankoven for the NHL's rookie points lead.
3. Discipline and special teams
We highlighted these two areas heading into Thursday's game, and they bear repeating. The Flyers went into the Senators game knowing that, despite their own stout penalty killing abilities, they could ill-afford to take excessive penalties against the Senators' scorching power play.
Philly failed in that regard during the Ottawa game. The Flyers found themselves shorthanded six times, and the Senators broke Philly's streak of 20 consecutive successful PKs on their way to scoring twice on the man advantage.
Entering Saturday's game, the Flyers third in the NHL on the PK (87.9 percent) and 20th on the power play (18.7 percent). The Philly power play carried much of the team's offensive output for the season's first eight games but is 2-for-22 since that point.
The Sabres power play (17.3 percent) ranks 22nd in the NHL. Their penalty kill (76.8 percent) ranks 24th.
4. The puck possession game
With a few exceptions such as the recent games against the Lightning and Sharks, the Flyers have generally spent too much time in their defensive zone at 5-on-5 and not nearly enough time on the attack. That was the case once again in the first 50 minutes of the game in Ottawa on Thursday.
The Flyers cannot expect to win regularly when games are territorially played like the recent games in Carolina and Ottawa. Philly gets full marks for their resiliency but the breakouts and forechecking aspects of their systems still need much greater consistency.
Buffalo is a club that ranks in the top half of the NHL in puck possession share at 5-on-5 (ranked 11th at a 52.05 percent team Corsi at 5-on-5) and has essentially broken even in generating legitimate scoring chances versus yielding opposing chances (49.48 percent expected goals share).
5. Behind enemy lines: Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres are one of the NHL's most inconsistent clubs on a game-to-game basis. There are matches where the Sabres seem to be turning the corner and able to compete successfully against just about any club. On other nights, the Sabres seem to either self-destruct (particularly with unforced turnovers) and or fall out of sync for costly stretches of play.
That said, the Sabres have emerged victorious in four of their last five games after starting November with back-to-back regulation losses. In the bigger picture, it's notable that the same Buffalo club that hammered Ottawa (5-1) and the New York Rangers (6-1) in back-to-back games also lost a 7-5 goal-a-thon to the Montreal Canadiens and previously lost 6-5 (overtime) and 6-4 decisions th the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Sabres are dealing with a variety of key injuries: none among high-scoring Tage Thompson (lower body), goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (lower body) are available for Saturday's game. Samuelsson, the son of longtime Flyers defenseman and coach Kjell Samuelsson, is likely to miss much of the season with an injury sustained on Nov. 11 against the Canadiens.
Additionally, forward Jordan Greenway is questionable for Saturday's game. He was unable to complete practice on Friday due to aggravating a lingering physical issue. The Sabres recalled forward Jiri Kulich from the AHL's Rochester Americans.
