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Quick Hits: Flyers vs. Sabres

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Buffalo was in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, taking on the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center.

Things could not have started off any better for the Buffalo Sabres.

In their first game without forward Evander Kane (MCL), the offense seemed to find its stride relatively early in the first.

A little more than 6 and a half minutes into the opening period, Tyler Ennis went to work. We all know what Ennis can do when he has the puck on his stick.

I’ll say he scored a goal, but that is a very large understatement. Scroll down to see the GIF of his goal, I promise you’ll see the replay a couple times at least.

Jamie McGinn joined the goal party next, with his first as Buffalo Sabre. This beauty came on the power play, which is always neat.

Unfortunately for Buffalo, they had a two-goal lead which means the wheels were in danger of falling off at any point.

Right on cue, less than 4 minutes later, the Flyers got themselves on the board.

While things would calm down for the remainder of the first and all of the second, Buffalo would not be out of the woods.

8 minutes into the third, Brayden Schenn had himself a great opportunity and was able to put the puck home to tie the game. While you can complain that Chad Johnson might’ve been able to stop the puck, Cody Franson and Jake McCabe were not good on this play and Marcus Foligno failed to effectively take Schenn’s scoring opportunity in front of the net.

Buffalo would jump back on top a little over a minute later, as Jake McCabe shot a laser from the left point. It appeared as if Jack Eichel may have tipped the puck, but he instead played a very effective screen in front of Flyers’ goaltender Steve Mason.

At this point (9:38 left in third), the Sabres led 3-2.

With a little over a minute to go in the third period, and trailing by a goal, the Flyers pulled Mason in favor of an extra attacker.

The Flyers occupied a bunch of important space at the goal mouth, and the tying goal seemed inevitable. Buffalo found themselves caught in their own zone too long and paid the price.

When overtime rolled around, it looked as if the Flyers had maintained momentum from their late 3rd period goal.

Philadelphia almost put home the game winner, but Sabres goaltender Chad Johnson was having none of that. Scroll down to see the GIF of Johnson’s incredible save. That’s what we call a teaser, folks.

Almost immediately following Johnson’s incredible save, the Sabres took the puck down the ice. Forward Zemgus Girgensons found himself entering the zone on a breakaway. Girgensons would go five-hole for the game-winning goal. Buffalo defeats Philadelphia, 4-3.

With this victory, the Buffalo Sabres move to 3-5-0 (6 points) on the season.

Buffalo takes the ice again Thursday night in Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins.

Now, time to dive into some Quick Hits:

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    • GIRGENSONS!

Oooooooh boy. What an OT goal for fan-favorite Zemgus Girgensons.

Girgensons’ first goal since February 24 earlier this year (thanks Bill Hoppe). That’s a fancy stat, but don’t forget that he hurt his foot late last year. Girgensons’ last game was February 24, so it has really has only been 8 games. Don’t you try to rain on this #NARRATIVE parade, damnit!

Watch that GIF below and let it fill your heart with Latvian love and joyness and happiness and HOCKEY.

    • #EnnisTheMenace

When it comes to Tyler Ennis, either he dazzles you with a mind-bending goal or Enns is drawing your ire because he really, really, really, really likes possessing the hockey puck.

Tonight, Ennis decided to bless us all with another dazzling goal.

Sometimes, I wonder how he does it and then my brain shuts off. I cannot put the words together anymore. Look at the GIF, it is p cool.

Yep. Tyler Ennis can make funny things happen with the stick pucks.

    • Take a seat next to Mike Weber, healthy scratch.

WE ARE ALL WITNESSES to probably like the last week or so of Mike Weber’s Sabres career. He’s a healthy scratch while guys like Carlo Colaiacovo and Cody Franson still populate the lineup.

Don’t forget, Franson not only fails the eye test (looks like he’s skating with concrete boots on) but his fancy stats are liquid baby poo.

RIP MIKE WEBER

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    • Goalie for hire

Chad Johnson had another average game (3 goals on 33 shots), but the offense definitely picked Johnson up.

The Sabres seemed overmatched early in the overtime period, and Chad Johnson absolutely stood on his head. Check out the GIF below and try to stop your jaw from hitting the floor.

Johnson smacked the puck away with his stick hand. What a glorious save.

I know, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often, but this save was excellent. It’ll definitely hang on his highlight reel for a very long time.

With that being said, the Sabres still need a lot of reinforcement in net. That is a different conversation for a different night. Let’s enjoy this victory first.

    • I love you, Danny Briere.

The Philadelphia Flyers honored retired forward Daniel Briere before tonight’s game. Daniel Briere had a lot of great things to say about the fans of Buffalo.

Maybe some day soon the Sabres can honor Briere, so the passionate fan base can give him the proper send off he deserves.

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