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Flyers win a wild, penalty-filled Game 2, beat Buffalo 5-4

Ville Leino

Philadelphia Flyers’ Ville Leino, of Finland, celebrates after his goal during the second period in Game 2 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs hockey series against the Buffalo Sabres, Saturday, April 16, 2011, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

AP

It wasn’t a game for those of you with high-blood pressure or a love of five-on-five play but if you’re a fan of the Philadelphia Flyers, it’s just what you wanted in the end. The Flyers fought through a crazy first period that saw both teams score three goals only to see the Flyers flex control in the second thanks to the power play on the way to a 5-4 series-tying win over Buffalo.

Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist in leading the way as five different Flyers scored on Ryan Miller (29 saves). It wasn’t all rosy for the Flyers as they saw starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky get chased from the game in the first period after giving up three goals on seven shots through 12:40 of the game. Brian Boucher would replace him and shut it down for Philly en route to 20 saves and a victory.

While the Flyers power play has been a problem for them this season, tonight they put it to work in a positive way getting a power play goal from Ville Leino in the second period that put them ahead 4-3. The Flyers overall for the game, however were 1-10 on the man advantage while the Sabres went 2-8 with Thomas Vanek scoring twice on the power play. In a playoffs where we’ve seen so few penalties being called in other games, it was stunning to see Dan O’Rourke and Shane Heier get so busy with their whistles.

Philadelphia got the response from their offense that they needed badly after being shut down in Game 1. Getting production from all their big players and supporting wingers was huge. The Flyers would love to see Jeff Carter and Mike Richards get more involved ideally, but seeing Claude Giroux, Daniel Briere, and Ville Leino get on the board helps out.

For Buffalo, a disappointing showing by their defense as well as from Ryan Miller in goal is deflating. Flat out, they were all outworked by Philadelphia and heading into Game 3 they’ll have some questions they need to get figured out especially after looking so strong in Game 1. Perhaps this is why Buffalo was the seventh seed in the East after all.

It sets up a fascinating chess match for Game 3 on Monday night in Buffalo.