Flyers Murder Whining Sabres in Game 7
With their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Series surprisingly tied at three games each, the Flyers played an outstanding game to oust the fiesty and scrappy Sabres in the seventh game, 5-2. Sabres goalie Ryan Miller had stolen two games with 1-0 shutouts and the Flyers had largely outplayed Buffalo throughout the series yet trailed three games to two going into Game Six in Buffalo. After fighting back from a 3-1 deficit, the Flyers pulled out a 4-3 overtime win to stay alive and wrest control of the series from Buffalo. With momentum off that victory, the Flyers thoroughly dominated the Sabres in Game Seven for the series victory.
The series was marked by organizational disassurance in their goaltending: Playoff starter Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled after giving up a couple poor goals in Game Two. Veteran Brian Boucher played well in games three and four, but gave up a couple bad goals in Game Five. That led the Flyers to surprisingly turn to Michael Leighton to start Game Six. He was yanked after the first period and Boucher returned to get the win in Game Six and Seven.
It was a nasty series, with controversial hits on both sides. A Mike Richards elbow to the head of Patrick Kaleta and a shove from behind on Tim Connolly led Goalie Ryan Miller to wonder if Richards was getting away with “mass murder” after Richards had said the Flyers were getting murdered by the refs. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff criticized Richards for “whining”, then later sounded like he was whining about Richards’ hit on Connolly.
Alot of twists and turns in this series for the Flyers, who again proved their resiliency and refusal to quit after being down, battled back and finally took the series. Onward!
