At a Glance
- Flyers drop 5-2 decision in Buffalo, extending skid to 0-3-1
- Starting goalie Dan Vladar exits after first period with undisclosed injury
- Team has been outscored 19-6 during four-game slide
- Why it matters: Philadelphia’s grip on a playoff spot loosens as injuries mount and schedule tightens
The Philadelphia Flyers watched their season-worst losing streak reach four games Wednesday night, falling 5-2 to the Sabres at KeyBank Center while losing their starting goaltender to injury in the process.
Key Injuries Mount
Dan Vladar, who has anchored the Flyers’ playoff push, left the game after the opening frame with an undisclosed injury. He had surrendered two goals on five shots, putting Philadelphia in an early hole.
Owen Tippett and Trevor Zegras supplied the offense, but the damage was done. The Flyers (22-15-8) are now 0-3-1 on the skid and have been outscored 19-6 across the four defeats.
Sluggish Start Dooms Flyers Again
Philadelphia conceded first for the 31st time in 45 contests. Cam York took a cross-checking penalty 13:49 into the period, and Rasmus Dahlin cashed in on the power play just 14 seconds later.
The Sabres doubled the lead seven seconds after Zegras turned the puck over in neutral ice, Mattias Samuelsson burying the chance.
“You can’t come back all the time,” coach Rick Tocchet said Tuesday. “I know we’ve had one of the better records coming back, but it’s too hard to play that way, we don’t have the team to do that, so we’ve got to buckle down.”
Goaltending Woes Deepen
Samuel Ersson replaced Vladar to start the second and stopped six of eight shots. Buffalo’s fifth marker came into an empty net.
| Player | Saves | Goals Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Dan Vladar | 3 | 2 |
| Samuel Ersson | 6 | 2 |
Vladar’s potential absence looms large. He has been arguably the club’s most valuable player during its postseason drive, while Ersson is mired in the roughest patch of his young NHL career.
Sabres Keep Rolling
Buffalo has captured 14 of its last 16 outings, including two wins over the Flyers in that span. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen turned away 20 of 22 Philadelphia attempts, denying Nikita Grebinin with a highlight-reel glove save 6:05 into the contest.
The Flyers finished 1-2-0 in the season series against the Sabres (25-16-4).
Lineup Shuffle
Jamie Drysdale returned after a three-game absence with an upper-body injury, skating in place of Rasmus Ristolainen, who was a late scratch with the same ailment and is considered day-to-day.
Ristolainen had only recently come back from a second triceps-tendon rupture that sidelined him until mid-December.
Forward Bobby Brink missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body issue, and rookie Denver Barkey watched from the press box as the coaching staff gave the 20-year-old a maintenance night.
Quick Turnaround
Philadelphia is right back on the ice Thursday, traveling to Pittsburgh for a 7 p.m. ET puck drop on News Of Philadelphia.
Key Takeaways
- The Flyers’ playoff cushion is shrinking amid mounting injuries and poor first-period play
- Vladar’s health is now the franchise’s top priority with no clear backup plan
- A fifth consecutive loss Thursday would match the longest skid of Tocchet’s tenure
