Let the worrying begin
Flyers lose Game 1
Let the worrying begin
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
With that, the worrying commences.
You are the favored team, you lose the first game, you lose it at home, and you then deal with the nervousness that rains down all around you. That is suddenly the Flyers’ predicament after their 1-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
They played well enough to win, but they didn’t. The Sabres were stable and persistent and they blocked about a thousand shots. The Flyers were physical and they sometimes were dynamic, but they couldn’t solve the goaltender (a song that people who follow this franchise have sung before).
The only goal of the game went down like this: a point shot by the Sabres’ Marc-Andre Gragnani, a save by the Flyers’ Sergei Bobrovsky, a rebound, and Patrick Kaleta sneaking between defenseman Danny Syvret and Matt Carle and scoring into the open net. It was 5:56 of the third period and the Wells Fargo Center was silent and that was that.
The Flyers had the better of the play for the first two periods -- not by a lot, but an advantage nonetheless. Whoever was worried about switches needing to be flipped after a lackluster last few weeks of the regular season need not have been concerned. A Flyers team that made it to the Stanley Cup Final last season, a team that knew when everybody would really start keeping score, arrived on time for Game 1.
That isn’t to say that they dominated, because they didn’t. Then again, nobody really expected them to dominate a Buffalo team that was uber-hot at the end of the season, a team with an elite goaltender named Ryan Miller. But the Flyers played physically and well. They just didn’t finish.
Through two periods, the Flyers were outshooting the Sabres by 26-19 and that was a pretty fair approximation of what went on. In the middle of the second period, the Flyers had their best stretch -- beginning with a two-man advantage that lasted 38 seconds and continuing on for the rest of the final penalty. A flurry of chances in front of Miller were swallowed up by either the goaltender or the scurrying traffic. And then, later in the period, Jeff Carter was denied twice.
James Van Riemsdyk played a great, involved game. Mike Richards, recovering from what has been reported to be a head cold, was engaged throughout. Claude Giroux, playing with Carter and JVR, was doing his best to create the kind of magic which has become to define his game.
There was all of that.
But the Flyers couldn’t finish.
No special teams = No wins in close games. Pure and simple. They haven't done it all year, why would they start now. I'm still not giving up hope. Go flyers.— girouxoovy- versteeg sucks. hoffman needs to relax, tell me anyone who thought the flyers would sweep. entire game was played in our end. sabres got lucky. did i mention that versteeg sucks. zherdev needs to be on the ice over versteeg who sucks.— Matt from Iowa
Unacceptable. Call up Tom Sestito and put him in front of the Miller and beat up these pond princesses. I mean we are talking about Buffalo -one loser of a town and hockey club.Beat up people and destroy and outlaw the trap...it is only good as a sleep aid.- Still need a goalie. Where is Boyton" Get rid of Syret he sucks
- "But the Flyers couldn't finish".
How about this, how about the Flyer fans tell Comcast stick it up your xss, we are finished with you.
This organization sucks in the fans money like a vacuum cleaner, makes the huge promises, drives the hype, and then does not deliver.
THIS ONE IS ON COMCAST!!!!! YOU ARE A FRAUD!!!!!
Bandwagon over. Wait 37 more years.— ByeByeButtman - No way to blame this one on Bob. There are probably more overrated players in this league than Richards and Carter, but right now I'd be hard pressed to find them.— drbob1
- Oh ye of little faith.— Hexfoliation
- relax everyone- its one game. flyers in 6— Ouwachon
- We need to be down 3-0 before the series can begin.
- What a bunch of choking idiots.— rumple
- The Better Team Won. Let Me Teach You Cheese Steaks A Fact...It Starts With The Goaler.....And We Got A Doosie! Ben Franklin Aint Gonna Save Ya!— SabreBoy
