Three reasons the Flyers shut out the Sabres
A night after Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said the team should "be embarrassed," the Flyers had arguably their most complete effort of the young season, despite losing two more players to injury.
The Flyers lost two players and were starting their backup goalie Tuesday night and still managed their first shutout of the season, a 3-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at the Wells Fargo Arena.
Here are three reasons for the win:
They put their big-boy pants on
The Flyers did not play a perfect game. The Sabres controlled play for a good part of the second period before Travis Konecny scored the first goal.
A night after being run out of the rink in a five-goal loss, the Flyers buckled down when Phil Myers and then Morgan Frost went out and picked up an impressive win. Jack Eichel, Taylor Hall and Sam Reinhart had run circles around the Flyers on Monday night. On Tuesday, they each were a -2.
» READ MORE: Morgan Frost, Philippe Myers leave Flyers-Sabres game with injuries
“We had to bounce back from our performance [Monday], and I thought our group showed some good character and we found a way to win against a good team,” coach Alain Vigneault said.
‘Moose’ heads up the victory
Brian Elliott made 40 saves for his 41st career shutout and his fifth in three-plus seasons with the Flyers. His best were back-to-back stops on Jeff Skinner in the first period. He also denied Taylor Hall when the Flyers killed off a two-man disadvantage that lasted 59 seconds.
The Sabres, while crediting Elliott for playing well, pointed out that they hit the post three times, including once on a rocket from defenseman Colin Miller.
Elliott is the first Flyer with 40 or more saves in a shutout since Steve Mason blanked the Islanders with 46 stops on Nov. 24, 2014. Oddly, Mason did not win that game, as the Flyers lost, 1-0, in a shootout.
Everybody hits. Woo-hoo.
The Flyers, again probably stinging from Monday’s embarrassing loss, came out hitting. James van Riemsdyk, particularly, seemed to be a little extra rugged, though he was credited with just two hits.
“I thought JVR showed the way,” Vigneault said. “He was intense. He was physical [competing for the puck]. He didn’t get on the scoresheet, but he did a lot of other things that I noticed and my coaching staff noticed.”
The Flyers outhit the Sabres by 11-3 in the first period and 37-18 for the game. They seemed especially interested in taking the play to Sabres stalwart defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who had eight hits Monday when the Sabres outhit the Flyers, 28-24.
On Tuesday, Ristolainen (6-foot-4, 218 pounds) had three hits, but was on the receiving end of hits four times: one each by van Riemsdyk, Oskar Lindblom, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Konecny. Scott Laughton got in a cross-check to the back of Ristolainen that seemed to stun the big defenseman, but the referees didn’t see it.
Later in the second period, Ristolainen was flagged for roughing Laughton.