Flyers' Winning Streak Stopped at Five by Sabres

For the first time in November, the Flyers tasted defeat tonight, dropping a 3-2 game to the Buffalo Sabres at home. Despite solid play from Jeff Carter, the Flyers were playing from behind the entire night, and couldn't get past a solid Buffalo defense to attack Ryan Miller the same way they did a little over a week ago in Buffalo.

The last time the Flyers took on the Sabres, the Philadelphia offense was able to score early and often, putting the Sabres into come from behind mode. Tonight, Buffalo was able to turn the tables on the Flyers, scoring the first two goals of the game and keeping the Flyers off the scoreboard until the third period. Ryan Miller was rock solid in net tonight for the Sabres, and Ray Emery, while decent, allowed three shots past him, and that was all it took tonight.

When a team like Buffalo comes in to play, you have to realize that you're going to need to score as quickly as possible. The Flyers did that the last time they played the Sabres, but tonight, they couldn't get anything going on offense until the third period. The defense in front of Ryan Miller was great. They kept the garbage away from the front of the net, and had the Flyers frustrated for most of the night. The power play defense, which has been one of the best in the NHL so far this season, allowed two goals tonight with Buffalo on the man advantage. That right there spelled the difference in the game, even with Jeff Carter's shorthanded goal midway through the third period. Tonight, the special teams let the Flyers down, and when that happens against a defensive minded team like Buffao, there's very little chance of anything good happening.

That being said, it's always nice to get a winning streak going early in the season, and that's what the Flyers had going before the game tonight. Five straight wins this early in the year can help set the tone for the entire season, and the way the Flyers had been playing, it looks like it could be a good year. The offense was great throughout the short winning streak, scoring five goals or more in four of the five games, and the defense was just as good as only seven goals were scored against the Flyers in that span. Hopefully, tonight was just a setback, and the Flyers can get back to their winning ways on Monday night against the New Jersey Devils.