PHILADELPHIA _ "We can sit back and enjoy this for the next 30 minutes or so and then (we) gotta park it," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said late Saturday afternoon after the Flyers' 6-3 dismantling of St. Louis, one of the better teams of the Western Conference. "Gotta park it and move onto the next challenge, which is here tomorrow at 1 o'clock."
For a better team, a more consistent team, such talk might seem disingenuous, or the rhetoric of a take-nothing-for-granted coach. The next challenge, after all, was the bottom-feeding Buffalo Sabres, who entered the game winless over their last three games, and with just four victories over their last 18.
But one of those victories, of course, was against the Flyers three days before Christmas, underlining the one consistency of this team: its inconsistency. So, as was the case in splitting their first two meetings, the Sabres were a tough out, the Flyers prevailing, 4-1, at the Wells Fargo Center via a two-goal second-period outburst and two empty-net goals at the end.
When the first period ended Sunday afternoon, the Flyers had been outshot, 12-5. Stick penalties, something Hakstol has repeatedly cited in explaining the inconsistencies, plagued them early. While some of this can be attributed to the happy trigger finger of their old friend, referee Francois St. Laurent, the culprits _ Jake Voracek and Wayne Simmonds �should by now be as well aware of officials' tendencies as they are of opponents'. Voracek's hook was slight at best, and it appeared Simmonds' tomahawk chop at mid-ice was only a distraction, not illegal.
Nevertheless, they were byproducts of dead legs or indifferent ones, and less than 24 hours after vowing not to fall into that trap, they served to put a rowdy Sunday matinee crowd into a quick slumber.
They were bailed by goalie Michal Neuvirth, making his first start since a lower-body injury sidelined him on Nov. 28. Neuvirth kept the game scoreless and was sharp when it was needed most, which means he was aware as well. Several saves _ most notably a big glove stop on Sam Reinhart after a cross-slot pass during Buffalo's second early power play _ were impressive. Neuvirth's A game also involves covering pucks and controlling rebounds, and at least twice during the Flyers' giveaway first period, he averted secondary chances with an aggressive cover and well-steered deflection.
The Flyers have now emerged with a lead after the first period just twice over their last 21 games. Nothing inconsistent about that.
But they have also been beasts in the second period for most of the season as well, and Sunday was no exception. By the time the second period ended, that shot disadvantage had been completely erased, as was Buffalo's early second-period lead. Less than two minutes after Ryan O'Reilly had given the Sabres the lead with a power-play goal _ alas, another stick penalty, this time by Andrew MacDonald _ Shayne Gostisbehere got it back with the kind of defense-to-offense play that warms a coach's heart.
"Ghost" didn't just break up a mid-ice pass. He flicked the puck onto the stick of Jori Lehtera, playing in his second consecutive game. Lehtera pushed it to Scott Laughton, who teed up a snapshot for Gostisbehere, trailing the play with speed.
When Ghost beat Buffalo goaltender Robin Lehner to his stick side at 3:42, the switch finally went on. Sean Couturier's power-play goal less than four minutes later pushed the Flyers ahead 2-1, and only some spectacular acrobatics by Lehner _ most notably a cross-slot save on Simmonds _ kept it there after two periods.
While the Flyers outshot the Sabres, 18-11, in that period, Buffalo had its chances too, setting up a suspenseful third period. Buffalo pressed and the Flyers fended, icing it finally on Couturier's empty-net goal at 18:45 and another empty-netter from Ivan Provorov in the final seconds.
The Flyers will be off for the next four days before resuming practice Friday. They will play in New Jersey on Saturday.
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