High-scoring Flyers visit Sabres
Last Updated: Friday, November 6, 2009 | 12:22 PM ET
The Associated Press
Philadelphia rookie James van Riemsdyk, left, adds another weapon to a Flyers team that scored often against Buffalo last season. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)Ryan Miller has lifted the Buffalo Sabres to one of the best starts in the NHL, but he could get a tough test from the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Sabres will try to slow down Philadelphia's high-powered attack Friday night in Buffalo after being unable to do so while getting swept in last season's series.
Miller has anchored the league's best defence, which is allowing just two goals per game, and the veteran netminder's 1.69 goals-against average is nearly a goal better than his career mark.
That's a major reason Buffalo (9-2-1) has one of the best records in the league after missing the playoffs each of the last two seasons.
Miller earned his second shutout of the season with 24 saves in a 3-0 win over the New York Islanders on Wednesday night, bouncing back after getting pulled from Saturday's 5-0 road loss to the Islanders in the previous game.
"We played a real sound game coming off that loss," Miller said. "We did a very sound job pushing the puck up the ice, and we didn't give up anything that was too dangerous. We want to be a team that's in control."
Miller will likely start a seventh straight game as backup Patrick Lalime deals with a groin injury. Swede Jhonas Enroth, untested at the NHL level, is the backup.
In Philadelphia's four-game sweep of the Sabres in the 2008-09 regular season, the Flyers totalled 20 goals against the Sabres as Mike Richards racked up four markers and six assists.
The Flyers are still an offensive threat, leading the NHL so far with 3.6 goals per game.
Richards and Jeff Carter each had two goals and an assist in the Flyers' 6-2 win over Tampa Bay on Monday, the second straight game Philadelphia scored six goals, even though Danny Briere (groin) and Simon Gagne (abdomen, hip) are out of the lineup.
Rookies James van Riemsdyk and David Laliberté have been among the players stepping up. Laliberté made his NHL debut Saturday and has two goals and an assist in his first two games, while van Riemsdyk — the second overall pick in the 2007 draft — has 13 points in 10 games.
"Gagne and Briere are always welcome in your lineup because they're going to score all year long consistently, but it's great to see Laliberté and van Riemsdyk and these guys take advantage of the extra ice time and use it as an opportunity," Flyers coach John Stevens said.
Shaky on road
Philadelphia (7-4-1) has scored at least four goals six times this season, but only once in four road contests. The team has lost half those road games.
The Sabres, meanwhile, are 5-1-1 at home, averaging nine more shots than their opponents. Buffalo has managed at least one power-play goal in each of its home games, but the Flyers have one of the league's best penalty kills, with opponents converting 13.5 per cent of the time.
Buffalo also controlled the puck in the last game against the Islanders. The Sabres were a whopping 39 of 47 on faceoffs. Derek Roy was perfect in 14 draws, with Clarke MacArthur and Tim Kennedy combined to go 9-for-9.
Flyers goalie Ray Emery is 4-1-0 with a 1.98 goals-against average in his last five starts. Emery was out of the NHL last season but struggled against Buffalo while with Ottawa in 2007-08, going 1-2-0 with a 4.02 GAA.
Both clubs play again on Saturday. Buffalo travels to Boston, with Philadelphia hosting St. Louis.
The Flyers and Sabres will meet again in Philadelphia in eight days.
