Flyers-Sabres: Game 1 recap

Score: Sabres 1, Flyers 0

How it happened: Patrick Kaleta scored the goal and Ryan Miller stopped 35 Flyers' shots.

Key play: The goal came when Kaleta maneuvered himself between Flyers defensemen Danny Syvret and Matt Carle to slam home a rebound past Sergei Bobrovsky.

Heroes: Miller would have been our first star. James van Riemsdyk, who was the official first star, was the best player on the ice for the Flyers.

Goats: Hard to pick one player, so let's target the Flyers power-play unit, which failed to score in five chances and 9 minutes, 22 seconds with the advantage.

Did you know?: The last goalie to beat the Flyers 1-0 in a playoff game was Toronto's Curtis Joseph in 1999.

Hit parade: Buffalo's Mike Grier punished Danny Syvret early in the second period, but Syvret skated away seemingly unfazed. The Flyers tied a season-high with 40 hits, led by Andreas Nodl's game-high six. Buffalo had 36.

From the stat sheet: The Sabres blocked 16 shots. The Flyers blocked four.

History lesson: The Flyers are now 30-35 in Game 1s. They are 14-20 in the previous 34 series in which they lost the opener.

Quotable: "We can't be discouraged by what happened or by losing a game. We knew we obviously weren't going to run the table and have constant success. We have to fight through things and we've proven that we can in the past." - Flyers captain Mike Richards.

Up next: Game 2 is tomorrow at 5 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center. Traffic shouldn't be an issue because of the timing, but please note the Phillies have a 7 o'clock home game against the Marlins that night.