Sabres start strong, but lose momentum in loss to Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -For the third game in a row, the Buffalo Sabres found themselves lamenting an incomplete effort following a 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday afternoon. Unlike in their last two games, however, it wasn't their start that they were unhappy with.
Buffalo controlled the play in the first period and took the lead on a power-play goal from Ryan O'Reilly early in the second. Philadelphia captured momentum from that point on, taking a 2-1 lead into the second intermission and finally adding two more goals in the game's final minutes.

"I thought we really came out strong," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "I think we controlled the play. Obviously we get that big power-play goal to get the first goal of the game, and then from that point we just changed the way we were playing for some reason.
"A lot of east-west plays, turnovers, [poor] puck management, uncharacteristic of what we were doing in the first period."

Following their loss to Winnipeg on Saturday, Housley was particularly disappointed with the Sabres' shot selection and performance on the power play. They responded early in both regards. Buffalo held a 12-5 advantage in the shot column, including five with the extra man.
The Sabres failed to score on their first two power plays, but it wasn't for a lack of opportunities. O'Reilly had a backhand attempt on an open net that hit the skate of a Flyers defender, while Sam Reinhart had a one-time attempt robbed by the glove of Flyers goalie Michal Neuvirth.
O'Reilly - who had also drilled the post twice on the power play in Winnipeg - finally broke through with Buffalo on the power play early in the second. His one-time shot on a feed from Jack Eichel was placed perfectly into the top corner of the net, over Neuvirth's shoulder.

After that, the game changed.
"We were staying with it, and then we got away from it and for some reason we wanted to make plays instead of trying to do the right thing and make the right choices," Housley said.
Shayne Gostisbehere evened the score with a shot from the point less than two minutes later, and Sean Couturier gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead on the power play with 12:43 remaining in the period. Shots in the second period favored Philadelphia by a tally of 18-11.
"They came back with a heavy push and we got away from what we needed to do," O'Reilly said. "It's again with the consistency, we didn't have the full 60. It was tough to get momentum back after that."
Robin Lehner, making his first start since being pulled after two periods in Minnesota on Friday, played well enough in net to keep the Sabres in the game until the end. He made 25 saves on the afternoon, including multiple saves on odd-man rushes in the third period.

Lehner did have a momentary scare in the third when he took a one-time shot from Robert Hagg off of his neck, but he managed to stay in the game. He said he was OK afterward, albeit with a bit of soreness.
"I really thought Robin played strong, especially in the third when we needed a couple of big saves getting caught down low," Housley said. "Guys were beating us up the ice and he was able to come through for us to keep it 2-1. We just couldn't find that run support that we talked about."
Couturier scored an empty-net goal to make it 3-1 with 1:15 remaining in the third period, and Ivan Provorov added another goal with 33 seconds left on the clock.
The loss marks the conclusion of a season-long stretch of seven straight games away from KeyBank Center for the Sabres, six of which have been played since the holiday break. The Sabres went 1-3-2 in those six games, one win shy of a .500 road trip.
They return home to practice on Monday, and then have another crack at the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.
"We need to regroup," O'Reilly said. "It's the second half of the season and that's not the way we want to start it. It's frustrating. We have to regroup and we have to get better in practice because these games are there for us."