Buffalo Sabres take game 5 beating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0. This gives the Sabres a 3-2 lead in the series as it heads back to Philly for game 6. Sabres scored one goal in each period. Tim Connolly in the first on the power play, J.P. Dumont in the second on the power play and Maxim Afinogenov in the third at even strength.

While officiating was bad in the game, i.e. the penalty to Savage which led to the second goal or the kneeing incident with Nedved, it was not the deciding factor in the game. The Flyers were simply outplayed.

Ken Hitchcock – “Their checking tenacity — not their speed — controlled the tempo of the hockey game.”

Agreed, I would also add hustle and heart. The Sabres were the more determined team on the ice.

Robert Esche played another solid game even with giving up the three goals. He stopped 30 of 33 shots. Ryan Miller stopped all 24 shots.

Lineup for the Flyers was the same as the last couple games. Turner Stevenson, Ben Eager, Donald Brashear and Ryan Potulny were healthy scratches. Chris Therien, Keith Primeau and Kim Johnsson injured.
For Buffalo Teppo Numminen returned after missing game 4 with an irregular heartbeat, Jochen heckt was scratched due to injury.

Stars for the game were Ryan Miller, Tim Connolly and Mike Grier.
Although Miller did get the shutout, stand on his head in goal he did not. His defense in front of him kept the pressure to a minimum.

For game 6, the Flyers need to do several things. Still, improve the penalty kill. Giving up 2 pp goals on 6 chances can not be part of the plan. Flyers need to find a way to put more pressure on Miller, three shots in the first is not good enough. Neither is 7 shots in the third when already behind. However, the biggest thing the Flyers need to do is score the first goal which has not happened yet this series.

So this is it, possibly the last game of the year for the Flyers. There can’t be anymore excuses for lack of energy, sub par play or lack of heart. There is no tomorrow, and they need to play like it.

OLN has dropped the ball with NHL hockey coverage this year. TSN dropped the ball with playoff coverage of game 2. Now NBC has dropped the ball on playoff coverage of game 5. At some point mid way thru the third period NBC decided to switch from the Flyers-Sabres game to the Avalanche-Star game. I can not put into words how pissed off I was from this bush league move. What the F were they thinking? I suspect if this ever happened with other professional sports there would be hell to pay. Total bullshit.
At least they didn’t switch to a showing of Heidi.