Flyers vs Buffalo Sabres game 1

As the first playoff game of the season was underway, it looked promising for the Flyers. They seemed to "turn on the switch" so to speak. From the start, it was obvious that it was going to be a very physical game. Players were throwing themselves to block shots and other players. Both teams went to extreme lengths to prevent scoring and protect their goalies. Even though the first two period were scoreless, there was a good amount of penalties and power plays. To start out, the Sabres' goalie, Ryan Miller, pushed Mike Richards and then proceeded to put him in a head lock (with no penalty of course). It did turn out that Mike Richards and another Sabre, not Ryan Miller, got the penalties to make it a 4-on-4. During that big chance, James Van Riemsdyk hits the post and misses the rebound. Towards the middle of the second period the Flyers had a big chance with a 5-on-3 power play. With a time out called by Peter Laviolette, it looked like they were going to score the first goal of the game. They, unfortunately, did not. During the whole game, the Flyers were outshooting the Sabres. They played a defensive game very well and protected Bobrovsky at all costs. They slipped, however, at one point with not covering the one person that recovered the rebounded puck and scored the only goal of the game. There was a definite difference in the way the Flyers were playing tonight compared to how they have been playing. The good news is that this was only the first game out of a possible seven. The Flyers need to win four games in order to go to the next round. Hopefully they can keep up this physical play and keep the pressure on Ryan Miller for a possible score. Chris Pronger is still day-to-day with his hand injury and will hopefully be back for this first round against Buffalo. The next game is Saturday 5 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center.