POSTGAME 5: Buffalo Blitzes Flyers, 6-3

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 6-3, at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday evening. The Flyers controlled most of the first period but didn't answer the bell for the second period and quickly saw a 1-1 tie turn into a three-goal deficit.

Morgan Frost (17th goal of the season) roofed a shot to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 16:35 of the first period. Kyle Okposo (11th) got it back at 19:50.
The Sabres blitzed the Flyers for three quick goals early in the second period to build a 4-1 lead: Alex Tuch (33rd) at 1:25, Jordan Greenway (5th) at 2:40 and Jeff Skinner (33rd) at 3:46. At 16:02, Tuch scored his second of the game (34th of the season) to open a 5-1 edge before Frost (18th of the season) notched his second of the night at 16:24.
In the third period, the Flyers got within 5-3 at 5:11 on a goal scored by Konecny (28th) directly off a faceoff win by Noah Cates. Tuch scored a shorthanded goal (35th) of the season at 16;33 to complete a hat trick.
Felix Sandström was significantly outplayed by Sabres counterpart Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Sandström stopped 22 of 28 shots. Luukkonen denied 38 of 41.
The Flyers went 0-for2 on the power play with a shorthanded goal allowed The Sabres went 0-for-3.
Konecny made his return to the Flyers lineup on Saturday. He'd missed the previous 16 games with an upper-body injury.
For the second straight game, assistant coach Brad Shaw ran the bench for the Flyers. John Tortorella watched the game with interim general manager Danny Briere.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - xxxxxxxx - 22 Brendan Lemieux
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
61 Justin Braun
32 Felix Sandström
[33 Samuel Ersson]
TURNING POINT
In the first two meetings of the season, the Flyers did a good job of preventing the high-scoring Sabres from cranking up their offensive game. The Sabres ended in emphatically with the Okposo goal in the final 10 seconds of the opening stanza and especially their three-goal explosion in the first 3:46 of the middle frame.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Buffalo had three of the game's firs four on goal through 4:30. Receiving a pass from Allison, Hayes had the Flyers' first prime chance. Shortly thereafter, Luukonen robbed Lemieux at the doorstep.
Through 7:26, shots were 5-4 Flyers as Buffalo iced the puck. At 8"56, a sliding block by York erased a developing scoring chance for Buffalo.
Allison had a good look at the net but fired high on a transitional rush. Shots on goal were 9-4 Flyers through a TV timeout at 14:49.
Allison put the puck in deep and Lemieux and Frost went in to forecheck int the right circle. Frost claimed the puck, curled in a stride and wristed a shot over Luukkonen for a 1-0 lead at 16:35.The assists went to Lemieux and Allison.
Shaw kept Frost out on the ice after the goal. Frost created another potential chance before going off for a line change.
Seeler had a shot from the side of the net with 27.8 seconds left in the first period. Luukkonen prevented it from going in the net.
The Sabres tied the game at 19:50. Frost wiped out in the neutral zone while attempting to check the much bigger Kyle Okposo. Skating in, Okposo fired a shot upstairs past Sandström to make it 1-1. The assists went to Peyton Krebs and Mattias Samuelsson.
2) First period shots on goal were 14-5 Flyers. Shot attempts were a whopping 30-13 Flyers. Scoring chances were 15-8 Flyers, with a 5-2 high-danger edge to the Flyers. Faceoffs were 11-5 Flyers.
3) Buffalo took a 2-1 lead at 1:25 of the second period. Provorov missed in initial check on the Buffalo entry Casey Mittelstadt passed to Tuch, who scored under the crossbar.
The Flyers were guilty of puck watching on a horrid shift that Greenway finished off for a goal and a 3-1 Buffalo lead at 2:40. Tyson Jost and Rasmus Dahlin received the assists.
Buffalo hit the post on the next shift: a brief reprieve for Philadelphia. At 3:36, off a transitional rush with Philly caught in a line change, Skinner followed up his own rebound and scored to open a 4-1 Sabres' advantage. Assists went to Mittelstadt and Power.
Konecny tried to stir the pot in a scrum near the Buffalo net at 7:33. There was a lot of pushing and shoving but nothing escalated.
Around the 9;30 mark, Allison had another prime scoring chance. Luukkonnen made his 8th save of the period and 23rd of the game. On the next shift, TIppett used his leg drive to create a scoring chance after a lead pass from Frost.
Cates went to the penalty box at 11:19 as he was called for tripping behind the Buffalo net. The Flyers staged a strong kill. Konecny and Cates had a transition rush opportunity after the penalty expired.
York pulled off a spin move on a breakout but then turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Sandström made a side angle save at 14:47.
Hayes was fed at the doorstep for a close-range chance about 15:15 into the second period.
Buffalo made it 5-1 at 16:02. Scoring his second goal of the game, Tuch fired a rising shot over Sandström from the top of the right circle. The assists went to Mittelstadt and Skinner.
The Flyers got the goal right back, scoring in short ice off a Sabres turnover in the neutral zone. Farabee got the puck to Frost, who sliced through the defense and scored from the bottom of the left circle at 16:24. Farabee and Sanheim earned the helpers.
At 18:40, Frost pulled off a spin-o-rama move on the rush and backhanded a shot on net. Luukkonen made the save.
4) Secon period shots were 17-17. Shot attempts were 22-21 Flyers. Scoring chances were 17-7 Sabres with a 6-4 high-danger edge to Buffalo. Through two periods, faceoffs were 28-14 Flyers.
5) Early in the third period, the Cates line had a solid forechecking shift. Luukkonen covered for a stoppage a 1:33.
With the Flyers on the attack, Provorov was called for an offensive zone tripping penalty at 2:20.
The Flyers cut the gap to 5-3 at 5:09. Cates won an offensive left circle faceoff directly to Konecny, who sniped it upstairs. Cates earned the lone assist.
At 6:00, Buffalo's Dahlin took a delay of game penalty. Tippett came within a half-inch of a wraparound goal but the puck was stopped along the goal line. Later, Frost broke his stick on a look from the slot. As the penalty expired, Cates put a center point shot on net.
A Hayes miscue led to Tuch having a breakaway with a chance to complete a hat trick. Sandström made the save.
Through 14:00 of the third period, shots on goal were 8-3 Flyers. At 14:40, the Flyers went on their second power play as Dahlin was called for holding The Flyers gave up a shorthanded 2-on-1 but escaped damage. They weren't so lucky at 16;33 after Farabee turned the puck over at the defensive blueline. Tuch took a pass from Jack Quinn, waited out Sandström and scored his third goal of the game.
Laughton mixed it up with Mitteldstadt in the final minute of the game. Buffalo got a power play at 19:10.
Third period shots were 11-7 Flyers.