Flyers get better of Miller, Sabres

November 7, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

It was a familiar script for Ryan Miller against the Flyers. Last season, the Buffalo netminder struggled along with the rest of his teammates dropping all four meetings. Unfortunately, the wrong trend continued with Philly getting the better of Miller and the Sabres 5-2 at HSBC last night.

Oddly enough, the Flyers’ fifth consecutive win over the Sabres came mostly from unlikely sources with third and fourth liners stepping up by contributing three goals and three helpers, helping the team from the City of Brotherly Love win their third in a row. Daniel Carcillo scored twice. Ian Laperriere notched two assists, Darroll Powe scored and former Ranger PK ace Blair Betts added a helper.

During a seesaw first period, both clubs had chances but the goalies kept it scoreless until some excellent hand eye coordination from Carcillo got the Flyers on the board with 1:21 left. He deflected Braydon Coburn’s point shot past Miller for his first of the season, ending a 46-game drought. Both Miller and rookie defenseman Tyler Myers immediately protested that it was scored with a high stick, forcing a review. But replays indicated that Carcillo redirected it legally. So, the Flyers led.

It took the visitors just 28 seconds into the second to increase it to two when Chris Pronger took a Betts pass and beat Miller with a wrist shot from the point. There was little traffic, meaning it was one he should’ve had. Laperriere added an assist. But the Sabres struck back 4:00 later when Derek Roy pounded home his second in two games on a four-on-three power play. Tim Connolly setup Jason Pominville’s one-timer which caromed off Ray Emery right to Roy who finished, slicing it to 2-1.

A pivotal moment came with under six minutes left when Buffalo nearly tied it. However, Emery denied Clarke MacArthur’s stuff attempt keeping his team ahead. That proved large when on the next shift during a four-on-four, rookie James Van Riemsdyk surprised Miller with a backhand that went right through the wickets. He was looking to center for Jeff Carter but wound up catching Miller cheating. It was the 20 year-old Old Bridge New Jersey native’s third, extending his point streak to four straight (2-5-7). The good stretch allowed him to tie for the rookie scoring lead with Ryan O’Reilly with each having 14 points, one better than Mike Del Zotto.

The Flyers’ grit led to some sloppy passing from Buffalo in their end. Carter nearly made it 4-1 but Miller shut the door. Instead, they settled for a two-goal lead into the locker room. But that changed early in the third when some more ugly play from the Sabres led to a turnover, allowing Darroll Powe to catch Miller napping with a routine slapper, increasing to 4-1 at 2:34. The third softie of the night.

Van Riemsdyk’s vision nearly made it four when he found Laperriere all alone in front but Miller said no. The Sabres would go on the power play thanks to a great individual effort from Drew Stafford, who nearly beat Emery. On the man-advantage, after nearly getting scored on shorthanded, Myers scored when his centering feed trickled off Coburn past Emery, cutting it to 4-2 with 9:26 remaining. Roy and Craig Rivet netted assists.

Buffalo almost made it interesting, coming close with five and a half left but just missing wide. That was the last hurrah with Pronger feeding Carcillo for an empty netter, sealing it with 48 ticks left.

Lindy Ruff’s club is back at it on a busy Saturday that includes a 4 PM matinee between the hapless Preds and surprising Kings. Buffalo travels to Beantown to face old Adams rival Boston. The B’s haven’t been scoring, finally getting a late Patrice Bergeron marker to snap a two-plus game drought, salvaging a point in a shootout loss to the Habs. So, it should be interesting. The question is will the Sabres be tired in what’s a back-to-back along with their third in four nights. We’ll see.

Battle Saturday: Not surprisingly, all four Battle teams are in action with the Devils going for eight straight on the road when they visit Ottawa with Martin Brodeur expected to be back in net looking to tie Terry Sawchuk. Meanwhile, the Islanders play their third in four when they return home to host Atlanta. They received some bad news earlier today with key defenseman Radek Martinek done for the season after suffering a torn ACL in last night’s 2-1 loss to the Devs. Unforturnately, he never stays healthy and is a huge loss for an Isles’ club that also will be minus captain Doug Weight, who’s out with an upper body injury. Later tonight, the Rangers visit Calgary at 10 PM with it being Sean Avery’s return a year after his poor remarks about ex-girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert, who Dion Phaneuf was seeing. Predictably, Avery’s taking the high road which sums things up for a player who’s in John Tortorella’s doghouse being relegated to fourth line status. He earned it.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Derek Roy, (PPG-2nd of season, assist, 2 SOG, hit, 10-5 draws, -1 in 18:03)

2nd Star-James Van Riemsdyk, (goal-3rd of season, 3 SOG, hit, +1 in 18 shifts-12:19)

1st Star-Daniel Carcillo, (2 goals, 7 SOG, 2 hits, +3 in 13:06)