The final score was very misleading after the Buffalo Sabres (5-5-0) visited the Philadelphia Flyers (4-5-1) on Wednesday.
Turnovers in the defensive zone and surrendering odd-man rushes in transitions didn’t help Carter Hart or Sam Ersson. Scoring doesn’t require a ton of shots on goal or an optimum number of chances if the defense isn’t in a position to help their goaltender.
“A big part of my job is how the mindset of the hockey team is handled. You don’t like losing. You don’t like being in the loss column. I’ve got to handle it the right way with them. We have some things to correct, and we’ll do that, but I’m not going to go searching for things wrong with the team when we lose five to two, or we lose the other night. That’ll show its face plenty of times this year; when something’s really wrong with the team. Sometimes when you think you’re really doing okay, you just got to stay with it. It’s a big part of my responsibility right now with some of the players because I think there’s frustration already.”
John Tortorella; 10/1/2023
When a team outshoots another, 40-15, and loses, it’s tough to make sense of it. Two nights later, the lineup must pace the game as they did on Wednesday but tighten up in the defensive zone. Here’s the tale of the rink between these two clubs:
Buffalo Sabres
Don Granato said the Flyers were a ‘better team than they were a year ago’ on Wednesday. Other coaches approve of the complete overhaul, wanting to face the best version of their opponents. Granato is looking forward to the rematch from Wednesday night:
“I certainly don’t want to discredit the other night because you have to find ways to win. I’ve said for a while [that] this team needs to get back to scoring and having that mentality; that came through for us the other night. The great thing is to play back-to-back, and we know we need to play better tonight, and we know we can play better.”
Don Granato; 11/3/2023
Alex Tuch (1G, 6A) notched two assists on Wednesday in Philadelphia. He was disruptive in the neutral zone and consistent on the forecheck. Tuch passed the puck off the wall for Tage Thompson to carry through the neutral zone, who dropped a pass to Owen Power on the game-winning goal. As a team, the Sabres scored five goals, including an empty net by Brandon Biro.
“I just don’t think we’re overcomplicating things lately. I think we’re just simple, we’re playing more ‘winning hockey;’ we’re able to frustrate teams [and] you saw it last game. I know we gave up a lot of shots, but I thought a lot were from the outside. UPL made a couple [of] big saves, but we were able to jump on some opportunities. Our game is allowing us to win those games that are two-two with ten minutes left. As soon as we get the opportunity, we’re bearing down, and we’re scoring a goal.”
Alex Tuch; 11/3/2023
Here’s the tentative lineup for the Buffalo Sabres:
Greenway-Thompson-Biro
Skinner-Mittelstadt-Peterka
Rousek-Cozens-Tuch
Girgensons-Krebs-Okposo
Dahlin-Samuelsson
Power-Jokiharju
Clifton-Johnson
Luukkonen
(Levi)
Philadelphia Flyers
Hart (mid-body) did not return after exiting versus Buffalo. He and Sean Couturier (lower body) are day-to-day on the injury report, joining Rasmus Ristolainen and Marc Staal as unavailable to compete. Ryan Poehling was inserted into the lineup, and Ersson will start. John Tortorella hasn’t spoken to Ersson since Wednesday and ‘won’t say a word to him.’ He hears Ersson speak and knows he wants to win.
“One of the biggest jobs of a coach, especially a head coach, is our players self-evaluating properly.”
John Tortorella; 11/3/2023
Cam Atkinson (6G, 3A) scored on Wednesday versus the Sabres. He nearly had another, but it rang off the post. His matchup against Mattias Samuelsson is one to watch when they’re both on the ice.
Here’s the tentative lineup for the Philadelphia Flyers, per Jeff Neiburg:
Tippett-Cates-Atkinson
Farabee-Laughton-Brink
Konecny-Frost-Foerster
Deslauriers-Poehling-Hathaway
York-Sanheim
Seeler-Walker
Zamula-Belpedio
(Ersson)
Petersen
Place Your Bets (via DraftKings)
Philadelphia Flyers (+140)
Buffalo Sabres (-166)
Alex Tuch over .5pt (-145)
Cam Atkinson anytime goal (+275)
Game Information
You can watch the Flyers visit the Sabres at the KeyBank Center on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The radio broadcast can be heard on 97.5 the Fanatic and Flyers Radio 24/7. The puck drops at 7pm.
(Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire)
