Vladar Injured, Flyers Defense Falls Apart Again in Another Ugly 5-2 Loss Against Sabres

The Flyers drop another game, giving up five goals for the third consecutive game as Daniel Vladar exited after the first period with an injury. The Flyers were outplayed from the opening face-off and just never found a groove in this game, dropping an important 2 points on the road in a 5-2 loss in Buffalo

The Flyers come into tonight’s game needing a bounce-back performance after a three-game losing streak, having lost to the Maple Leafs and played two of their worst games of the season in a horrible back-to-back home series against the Lightning, where they were outscored 12-3. They traveled north to take on one of the hottest teams of the Eastern Conference.

In the first period, perhaps the scariest moment of the season happened for the Flyers, after giving up two goals and looking a beat slow tonight, Vladar left the game, and Samuel Ersson came into the game to relieve him. The collective groan of Flyers fans when they saw 33 skating to the crease could be heard all the way in Buffalo. On the goal given up to Rasmus Dahlin on a Buffalo power play, Vladar was stretching more than normal, and it was obvious that something was not right. By the time Mattias Samuelsson scored the second goal, Vladar’s mobility was definitely slowed. A misplay in the neutral zone by the Flyers, Josh Doan stole the puck and got it to Noah Ostlund, who set up Samuelsson for a goal on the rush that made it obvious there was something wrong with Vladar. He finished the period, but didn’t come out for the second period, and Ersson came out. Vladar was not on the bench, causing speculation throughout the building

In the second, the Sabres scored another goal when Ryan McLeod sent a pass from behind the net to Jack Quinn, who sent a screaming one-timer by Ersson. That goal wasn’t on Ersson; the Flyers’ defense lost sight of him, and he was in position to take the shot. Later in the period, on a botched clear by Buffalo, Noah Cates jumped the passing lane and got the puck ahead to Owen Tippett, who got the puck by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, to bring the Flyers to within one. The penalty kill unit let up another goal when Dahlin snapped a shot past Ersson to bring the goal back to three.

In the third on the power play, Trevor Zegras took a snap shot past Luukkonen when Tippett stole a pass in the neutral zone, got an outlet pass to Travis Konecny, who fed Zegras for a masterful shot. We’re at the point in the season where morale victories aren’t as important as points, and while in a playoff push, points are incredibly important, and tonight was a missed opportunity, with this 5-2 loss.

Speed Kills the Flyers Yet Again

For most of the first 2 periods, the Flyers, who are not one of the faster teams in the NHL, were up against a team with real team speed, and it was completely obvious how much faster they are, and it shows something that has been an issue all season: the Flyers have a problem with faster teams.

Tonight, the Flyers weren’t skating at their best, especially in the first, and the way that Buffalo got up and down the ice was proof of how much the Flyers need to work on containing fast teams. Not that the last 2 games against Tampa Bay didn’t show that, but the Lightning aren’t as fast as the Sabres.

The team needs to really come up with a better strategy for playing teams with speed. Tonight, in the third period, they came out with intensity and played to frustrate Buffalo, and it was working. That was the one thing that neutralized the Sabres’ speed and made them play the Flyers game. Buffalo is one of the most disciplined teams in the NHL, but in the third, the Flyers were bothering the Sabres, which ultimately led to a golden 6-on-4 opportunity to close out the game.

Flyers Power Play Comes Alive in Buffalo

Early in the game, the phrase “stuck in the mud” really encapsulated the Flyers’ efforts. They were noticeably slower, and it showed in the first two power play opportunities tonight. The first two chances only produced three shots, and the eye test showed that there was just no aggressiveness to the Flyers’ power play. When the third period started, the pace was noticeably better, not just for the power play, but for the team in general. Midway through the third, the power play showed some signs of life when Konecny sent an absolute dime of a pass to Zegras for a lightning-quick shot that Luukkonen had no chance of. For a moment, it felt like the Flyers hadn’t forgotten how to take advantage of being a man up on the ice.

When the third period was winding down, the Flyers were on the power play when Matvei Michkov took a penalty, a 5 on 4 turned into a 5 on 3 advantage, and Rick Tocchet pulled the trigger and pulled Ersson to the bench for the extra attacker. with a rare three man advantage, the shots and setups were definitely there, but the execution failed later as one of the penalties expired, the Sabres got a zone exit and McLeod iced the game with an empty netter to make it 5-2. So while there were some signs of life from the power play in the third, the magic ran out when the Flyers needed it the most.

The Flyers Need to Make Changes on the Defensive Side, and Fast

In the last three games, the Flyers have given up 5 goals, and it has not been a fluke. They have played two of the faster teams in the east, and it showed how much the defense that Tocchet installed in the preseason has slipped. Earlier on, the Flyers leaned on playing controlled chaos in the defensive zone, which made them unpredictable, and not even faster teams could get down the ice fast enough to beat the Flyers’ forecheck, but since the Anaheim game, that has felt a step off, and like the book is out on how to beat them.

It’s on Tocchet and the coaching staff to address this immediately, because this 3-game slide has shown that the Flyers are falling back to issues that marred them last season. They have been outscored 17-5 in the last three games alone. Earlier in the season, it would have taken a week to give up 17 goals. Part of it is on inconsistent goalie play, but it has more to do with the Flyers’ forecheck not setting up the defensemen well enough. This is a huge issue when your defensemen are among the youngest as a group in the NHL.

It’s on Tocchet to come up with an answer here. This can’t continue because tomorrow the Flyers head to Pittsburgh to take on the interstate rival Penguins in what is shaping up to be an important first-half matchup. I don’t want to put too much pressure on a mid-January game, but tomorrow’s game is important to see how the Flyers respond. It will tell so much about how many bricks have been laid in this rebuild.

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