FLYERS NEWS

The Flyer's welcomed the Buffalo Sabres to the Wachovia center tonight as they looked for their 6th straight win. This one was a tight well played game by both teams, but Buffalo was just a little better. They had 2 power play goals to 0 for the Flyers, the NHL's best power play unit, despite having 4 opportunities. The Flyer's were also hit with 9 penalties, including a few on some very ticky tacky calls, and that made it difficult for them to get it going offensively. Ray Emery also had a bit of an off night, allowing 3 goals while facing only 25 shots. Goals by Thomas Vanek in the 1st period, and Tyler Ennis in the 2nd period gave Buffalo a 2-0 lead heading into the 3rd period. There, the Flyer's finally put together a rally. Chris Pronger scored early in the period to cut it to 2-1. Then after Paul Gaustad scored another Buffalo power play goal, to push the lead back to 3-1, Jeff Carter scored shorthanded to cut it to 3-2 with a little under 10 minutes to play. Unfortunately, try as they might the Flyers could not come up with the equalizer down the stretch and eventually Buffalo hung on to win 3-2 to snap the Flyer's winning streak at 5. So they drop to 10-5-1 overall and back to 6th in the Eastern conference, with 3 of the 5 teams ahead of them also from the Atlantic division(Rangers, Pens, Devils). In fact if the season were to end now, literally the entire Atlantic division would be in the playoffs, as the Islanders, last in the Atlantic, are currently right behind the Orange and Black at 7th in the East. That's how bad the rest of the Eastern conference is this year.