Flyers 5, Sabres 2: Multi-point night for multiple players

The Travises — both Sanheim and Konecny — had multi-point games, Anthony Richard had two points, Matvei Michkov had two points and Egor Zamula had two points as the Flyers dismantled the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 Saturday night at Wells Fargo Center.

The basics

First period: 13:57- Tyson Foerster (Anthony Richard, Joel Farabee) (PPG), 16:01- Travis Sanheim (Egor Zamula, Travis Konecny)

Second period: 2:08- Egor Zamula (Anthony Richard, Matvei Michkov), 17:07- Travis Konecny (Matvei Michkov, Travis Sanheim)

Third period: 10:06- Rasmus Dahlin (Alex Tuch, Jason Zucker) (PPG), 18:55- Ryan McLeod (JJ Peterka, Rasmus Dahlin), 19:42- Travis Konency (Sean Couturier) (EN)

SOG: 32 (PHI) – 25 (BUF)

Some takeaways

Richard making stronger case

Anthony Richard was a strong presence again, earning two assists on the first three goals the Flyers scored. The second assist mind you came courtesy of a billiards-like trick shot Egor Zamula delivered from the point. Words don’t really do it justice, hence….

Ivan far from terrible again!

After two solid games including stealing the game against Ottawa on Thursday night, Flyers goalie Ivan Fedotov got another start with Aleksei Kolosov backing him up. Fedotov bobbled the puck behind his net about five minutes in but thankfully nothing bad happened.

One thing with Fedotov is he’ll never be mistaken for Henrik Lundqvist as he still can be moving a bit more than a person would like him to in the net. That was especially true late in the first where he fell on the puck and got a quick whistle. But compared to how he started the season Fedotov is making a strong case for himself to be the number two. Perhaps his biggest save of the game came midway through the second when what should’ve been a Sabres penalty wasn’t called, leaving Fedotov to make a crucial save against Dylan Cozens that otherwise could’ve changed momentum.

One Travis scores, another Travis scores

Travis Konecny had a point streak that could’ve been a lot more had he capitalized a bit more on chances he had this week. But he’s produced and driven play (chances for after the first had him up 11-2). An early chance which didn’t break the ice didn’t deter him. After Travis Sanheim missed on another solid chance in the slot off a rebound, Konecny was again buzzing but didn’t sting. And during the first Flyers power play another excellent chance was passed off for what he thought would be an empty net. But that went for naught. Konecny did pot an empty netter with 18 seconds left in garbage time.

Meanwhile the other Travis had his own chances and put it behind Levi to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead.

Late in the seond period, the Flyers had a two-man breakaway as Matvei Michkov fed Konecny for the one-timer and a 4-0 lead. Sabres winger Zach Benson threw a hit after the goal on Michkov that wasn’t really smart or appreciated by Konecny. But that might have been the highlight for Buffalo after 40 minutes, or even the last 13 years….

No real initial jump

Although the Flyers drew two penalties thirteen minutes into the game, they definitely didn’t jump on the Sabres right off the bat. By comparisons they were hugely more productive than Thursday night (four shots in 13 minutes!) but they didn’t take the game to the Sabres as you would’ve hoped to start a five-game homestand.

That changed somewhat during the second power play when the work of Anthony Richard, Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster looked like the offspring of Wayne Simmonds or Tim Kerr, each of them going to the dirty areas in the corners and around Sabres goal Devon Levi. Foerster was the last one to touch the puck and gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead.

Tippett rocked

Owen Tippett avoided a serious injury in the second period when he and Sabres player Ryan McLeod collided hard around the Sabres’ blueline. McLeod seemed to make contact with Tippett’s left shoulder and not his head but it clearly stunned both as neither one appeared to see the other coming down the tracks. Tippett quickly got up and headed to the bench. He might have been taken to the locker room for concussion protocol by a league spotter, but returned to the bench later in the second and seemed okay.

Teams were generally special

The power play connected in the first period and the penalty kill lived up to their billing as they negated everything in the first two periods. Buffalo had a hand in the Flyers power kill in the second as twice they took minor infractions rather early into each of their power plays, resulting in four-on-four time.

In the third the Flyers didn’t do themselves any favors with more minors, one of which the Sabres broke their goose egg with thanks to Rasmus Dahlin. Rasmus Ristolainen was guilty of interference in the dying minutes but fortunately the Flyers were able to maintain the 4-1 lead.

Michkov muscle? Da

Aside from his offensive skills, Michkov is start to show a bit more muscle at times in both ends of the ice. In the second he knocked Owen Power off the puck while in the third he nudged another Sabres player hard into the boards. He’ll never be mistaken physically for Matt Rempe, but Michkov is throwing his stocky frame around sometimes with better than expected results.