For the second night in a row, Flyers fall to Sabres, extending skid to five games

The Buffalo Sabres snuffed out every bit of momentum the Flyers found in their failed attempt to take one game in the three-game series, and, for the second night in a row, the Flyers fell to the Sabres, this time with a 5-3 loss at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.

Sunday’s game started as a Saturday night repeat. Once again, the Flyers scored within the first two minutes to take the early lead thanks to a Kevin Hayes goal. And once again, the Flyers gave up a power-play goal to Victor Olofsson to lose the lead. Buffalo controlled the pace and took the 2-1 lead in the first when Anders Bjork slid past the Flyers as they were changing lines for a breakaway goal.

In the second, Buffalo scored twice to Philadelphia’s one, even though the Flyers responded with a rare strong second-period start. Noah Cates’ tying goal was negated by Olofsson’s second power-play goal of the night, followed by Tage Thompson’s even-strength goal.

The Flyers almost cut the lead in the third on Travis Konecny’s breakaway, but the missed shot turned into a Jeff Skinner breakaway. Felix Sandström stood strong and made the save to keep Buffalo’s score at four, giving his team a chance to draw within one when Zack MacEwen knocked in a loose puck with just under six minutes to go. The Flyers pulled Sandström with two minutes to go and Thompson scored on an empty netter.

The Flyers extended their losing streak to five games and face a tough opponent in Toronto on Tuesday. Hayes said the team can’t roll over and accept they’re going to keep losing.

“There should be motivation,” Hayes said. “It’s the NHL. We get paid millions of dollars to show up and perform at our job. If you can’t find motivation, you shouldn’t be on the ice.”

After the Flyers special teams lost the game Saturday, they showed no improvement on Sunday.

The Flyers gave up two power-play goals to Buffalo Saturday. On Sunday, they gave up another 8 minutes, 36 seconds into the game. The Flyers killed off 53 seconds before Olofsson scored. The Flyers looked much better on the second penalty kill and almost killed it off before the Sabres scored on the very last second. The Sabres’ power play (21.3% entering Sunday’s game) went 7-for-10 in three games against the Flyers.

Yeo said they did a better job this game, but before both goals the Flyers had the puck on their sticks and failed to clear it. The mistakes ended up in the back of the net.

Meanwhile, the Flyers power play provided no momentum. They ran around with the puck in the offensive zone without creating great looks. They finished 0-for-2 on the power play with three shots on goal.

In just 10 games, Cates has become one of the Flyers’ more trustworthy players. He plays smart and hard. His tendency of doing the right things is starting to pay off.

“I think I’ve gotten more comfortable and hold onto the puck a little longer to make some plays and make something happen,” Cates said.

He scored his first goal in his fourth game and came into Sunday with two goals and one assist. He nearly doubled his stats Sunday. On the game’s first goal, he recorded the primary assist, and then he scored the second by following up Konecny’s shot and fighting hard in the blue paint.

“For sure [it’s a result of hard work],” Cates said. “That’s how we want to play, down in their zone, and get pucks to the net.”

Beyond scoring, Cates’ play has led to more ice time, opportunities on higher lines, and responsibilities, like playing on the penalty kill. Having come from a winning college program at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Cates said he hopes to bring a winning mentality to the Flyers. However, something’s currently missing in the locker room.

“Just kind of the energy and kind of the swagger, whatnot, that winning team’s have,” Cates said. “And you know, kind of expecting to win and whether you’re up or down, you kind of play the same way. It’s kind of hard as a younger guy to say some stuff or what not. So I’m just trying to play the best I can.”

While the special teams were certainly an area that led to another Flyers loss, they performed poorly in many other areas. Their execution was not good, as evidenced by missed passes and 15 giveaways on offense compared to the Sabres’ 8, miscommunications on defense, and one poorly timed line change that directly led to a goal.

Despite having significantly more high-danger scoring chances, they once again could not finish. Breakaways, deflections and one-timers failed to result in goals. Once again, Yeo said it was not a failure of effort but of execution.

“At different points, it’s a matter of puck support,” Yeo said. “But obviously the ability to advance the puck, to get the puck out of our zone and to get on the attack, too many times, that turned into chances against or goals against here tonight.”

The Flyers head to Toronto to play the Maple Leafs on Tuesday at 7 p.m.