Rattled by a Sabre

Earlier in the week, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette called the playoffs "a breath of fresh air."

Perhaps, but it's not for the team that has to face Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller.

Thursday night, in the opener of their Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the surging Sabres, Miller led the way as Buffalo stunned the Flyers, 1-0, at the Wells Fargo Center.

Miller made 35 saves as he notched his second shutout in 41 career playoff games.

Right winger Patrick Kaleta, known more for his scrappiness than his goals, scored on a juicy rebound allowed by Sergei Bobrovsky with 14 minutes, 4 seconds left to snap a scoreless tie. Kaleta followed up a point drive by defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani.

"We just have to keep at it, get more traffic around the net," said winger James van Riemsdyk, who, along with teammate Kimmo Timonen, had six of the Flyers' shots.

"It's frustrating, obviously," captain Mike Richards said. "You wonder what went wrong and what you could have done. . . . Four or five times, we just missed tips."

The second-seeded Flyers, who came within two wins of capturing the Stanley Cup last June, will try to even the best-of-seven series when the teams meet Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers directed 74 shots toward the net, compared with 36 by Buffalo.

"We played well. Obviously, we've got to get more bodies in front of Ryan and get more screens and tips - and maybe get a little hungrier on pucks," Richards said. "Give them credit. They did a good job cleaning house."

The seventh-seeded Sabres "cleaned house" by blocking 16 shots - 12 more than the Flyers.

And when they didn't block shots, Miller was there to bail them out. Witness his two stops on Jeff Carter's shots - a one-timer and a tip - late in the second period.

"We have to find a way to score a goal, and defensively we have to be the same," Richards said. "I didn't think they had a whole lot of chances. They had that one rebound, and other than that, it was a pretty good defensive game for us. If we keep playing like this, we're going to have success."

The Flyers were minus defensive leader Chris Pronger, who is recovering from a broken hand. Pronger's return may be intensified by Thursday's loss.

"He's obviously their anchor," Kaleta said. "But we're more worried about what we have to do and not them."

Kaleta, who has been injured for most of the last five weeks, had just four goals in 51 regular-season games, and hadn't scored since Dec. 27.

The Flyers' power play has been inconsistent all season, and it was 0 for 5 Thursday, including a man advantage in the final nine minutes in which the hosts had no shots.

When they did apply pressure with a man advantage, Miller was, well, the man - especially during a five-on-three Flyers power play that lasted for 38 seconds in the second period.

The sometimes-spectacular goalie who helped lead the United States to a silver medal in last year's Olympics was the reason the game was scoreless after two periods. He made 26 saves over the first two periods, including eight as the Flyers had a five-on-four power play that later turned into the five-on-three.

"We created energy and moved the puck around and took good shots," Danny Briere said, "but we got nothing to show for it."

Laviolette didn't think the squandered five-on-three was the game's turning point.

"We were pushing beforehand in the offensive zone, and we were pushing after that," he said.

The first period finished scoreless, with the Flyers having the better chances. Both teams had 10 shots, and Miller made perhaps the best early save when he stopped defenseman Danny Syvret in front with 2:10 to go in the period.

A little over five minutes into the opening period, van Riemsdyk, the Flyers' best player in the first 20 minutes, beat Miller but had his shot carom off the right post.

Like most teams, the Flyers are dominating when they win the first game of a playoff series - 22-8 in franchise history. They are 14-20 in series after losing Game 1.

Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said he was happy to start the season on the road because it took the pressure off his team. In Ruff's Buffalo tenure, the Sabres entered the night 8-2 when they played Game 1 on the road.

After the morning skate, Miller said he understood why Ruff made the statement.

"You take a little heat off and shift some of it on the Flyers, who are [higher] seeded and the defending Eastern Conference champions," he said. "Those guys are expected to win the series."

Not if they can't get the puck behind Miller.