Not the quick start Flyers wanted

BUFFALO - As the obnoxious goal horn blared each time in the waning minutes of the third period on Sunday afternoon, steam poured from under the First Niagara Center scoreboard as a special effect.

It is supposed to resemble steam coming from the nostrils of a charging Buffalo.

An even hotter, more fearful steam was likely coming from the ears of Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, as each deafening reverberation ensured a winless first weekend.

Thanks to multiple breakdowns, the Flyers allowed three goals in the final 5 minutes to fall, 5-2, in the Sabres' home opener. Buffalo forward Thomas Vanek posted a career-best five points, factoring on every goal, including the empty-netter to ice it.

It was the Flyers' first regular-season loss in Buffalo since Dec. 21, 2007, snapping a 6-0-2 run in western New York.

After all of the chatter about the necessity of a quick start, the Flyers are pointless through 5 percent of their schedule, also known as the blink of an eye. Such is the unfortunate reality of a shortened, 48-game schedule. It is the Flyers' first 0-2 start since 2008.

"It's definitely no time to hit the panic button, but we obviously would have loved to get off to a better start to the season," defenseman Luke Schenn said. "An 0-2 start is not the start we were looking for, but we've got a lot of games coming up here."

The Flyers begin their sprint toward the Stanley Cup playoffs with seven games in the first 11 days. They also face New Jersey in the Devils' home opener on Tuesday night.

A lot of focus was placed on the Flyers' shoddy special-teams weekend, when they allowed a whopping five power-play goals on just nine chances - a 44 percent killing efficiency - and have converted on one man-advantage tally on nine of their own opportunities.

Postgame, there seemed to be more of an onus on the penalty kill, which wouldn't be fair. Against Pittsburgh on Saturday, Tyler Kennedy's credited goal may have actually deflected off Luke Schenn's outstretched stick. The other power-play goal was an empty-netter, as Laviolette put Ilya Bryzgalov on the bench to push for a game-tying goal.

Of Sunday's three power-play goals, one bounced in off Kimmo Timonen's skate, and the other two were legit strikes from Steve Ott and Vanek.

"I don't think a lot of it is bad positioning," Nicklas Grossmann said. "But it's definitely something we have to look at and clean up."

"You can't really blame the penalty kill in losses unless you're giving up five or six goals a game," Scott Hartnell said. "I think we got a little confused on the 4-on-3 and they went to 5-on-3. I don't think we had the right people out there. Sooner or later, it's going to be us getting the breaks and we'll take advantage of the other team's mistakes."

Laviolette chalked up the penalty killing to "a little bit of both" bounces and breakdowns. Theoretically, the bounces off skates and sticks will balance out between now and April 27.

The Flyers should be more concerned about their power play (1-for-9), since it failed to connect on two late opportunities Saturday to knot the game. Or, as Laviolette pointed out, how about their faceoffs (44.9 percent) or little things like crisp line changes. A line-change miscue created Vanek's breakaway game-winner.

"There's a lot of things we can do to be better, away from stating the obvious," Laviolette said. "I think there's some little things that we can focus on to help eliminate some chances."

The Flyers wasted goals from captain Claude Giroux in back-to-back games, the second season in a row he has started that way. They also had two goals disallowed because of goaltender interference.

"Every day is a new opportunity," Laviolette said. "But we've got to get back on track here and get a win in the column and get moving in the right direction. We've got a lot of work to do."

Somehow, signs point to the NHL emerging from its misguided, 119-day work stoppage stronger than ever.

In Philadelphia, the Flyers set a new regular-season attendance record on Saturday with 19,994 fans packing Wells Fargo Center to see Sidney Crosby and the Penguins.

The Flyers-Penguins rivalry set the table for NBC's highest overnight ratings in more than a decade. The 2.0 national rating - which included the Kings' Stanley Cup banner-raising in Los Angeles - was the best for any regular-season game, excluding Winter Classics, on any network since January 2002.

The telecasts also set regional records in the Philadelphia (7.8), Pittsburgh (19.4) and Chicago (6.6) markets.

The NHL even fared well in non-traditional markets. Florida (19,688), Nashville (17,113), Dallas (18,532), and Tampa Bay (19,204) all amazingly listed capacity crowds. Hockey is back in a big way, proving that sometimes you thirst for what you can't have.

The Flyers have held a lead for a grand total of 10:57 out of 120 minutes so far . . . They are now 20-14-11 all-time in the first road game of the season . . . Claude Giroux led all forwards in ice time in both games over the weekend, charting 24:13 on Sunday and 19:41 on Saturday . . . Former Flyer Ville Leino missed the game for Buffalo with a hip injury. The Sabres were also without perennial pest Nathan Gerbe (back surgery) and Moorestown, N.J., native T.J. Brennan (healthy). Buffalo does not want to risk moving Brennan through waivers for fear he'll be quickly snapped up.