Sabres shark game 1 in Philadelphia

by Steve

The game was boring, there was only one goal, nearly zero scoring chances but a win is a win is a win. The lone goal, not an own goal, was scored but the forgotten local son, Patrick Kaleta. Some wanted him benched for Mancari or even (puke) Matt Ellis, but it was Patty K with a cheapy. He scored on a rebound after a nice effort to get to the netfollowing a long point shot about eight minutes into the 3rd period.

The Sabres seemingly had two 4th lines out there tonight but the defense was excellent and Ryan Millsie Miller even with all the guff he gets from this blog was stellar in net. Bobo for Philly only let in one goal but didn't seem to be tested as much as Miller tonight. Both goalies swallowed up rebounds with their xxxxxl size jerseys and prevented many extra chance opportunities.

The big guns for the Flyers, Carter, Briere and Richards were at least as invisible as Vanek Connolly and Stafford if not more so. Gerbe and Gaustad played shockingly well while Montador was the run away goat of the night.

It was great to hear the Philly faithful turn on their team 3/4ths of the way through the 3rd period after yet another fruitless powerplay attempt, of which they had many more than the Sabres. Over all both teams played cautious and scared. There were very few odd man rushes and both teams stayed back defensively for the most part.

I'll be at game 2 in Philly so no quick post game but I can not wait to taste the fear and anxiousness in the Wells Fargo Centre Sat at 5. While it is only one game it still gives the Sabres home ice for the time being but this was a solid win in a gritty series with less scoring than I anticipated. Can the refs start calling interference though?