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Sabres exploit disastrous first period by Michael Leighton, take 3-1 lead

Michael Leighton, Andrej Meszaros

Philadelphia Flyers’ Michael Leighton, left, and Andrej Meszaros, skate off the ice after the 4-3 overtime win by the Buffalo Sabres in Game 5 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs hockey series, Friday, April 22, 2011, in Philadelphia. They now have a 3-2 lead in the best of seven series.(AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

AP

The story practically writes itself: the Philadelphia Flyers made a questionable, reactionary move with their starting goalie and find themselves in a self-inflicted 3-1 hole. Despite carrying much of the play and creating a nice amount of scoring chances, Michael Leighton has been downright bad in what might end up being a fatal first period.

Buffalo 3, Philadelphia 1; Sabres currently lead series 3-2

Then again, let’s be fair to Leighton. Last year’s playoff hero is playing in his second game and getting his first full-fledged start since the 2010 playoffs. There are many times when people critique the Flyers’ goalie decisions while ignoring their long track record of putting quality teams on the ice, but on this day, there’s simply no denying that their hubris has gotten the best of them.

While it’s never safe to assume you know what direction the Flyers will go in with their goalies, Leighton isn’t likely to play in the second period after allowing three abysmal goals on just eight shots. All three of those tallies should have been stopped as Rob Niedermayer scored on his short side while Thomas Vanek found the twine twice on the power play. Vanek made a great between-the-legs adjustment for his second power-play goal, but Darren Pang points out that Leighton should have had his paddle down.

The most stomach-turning part for Philadelphia is that they generally out-played Buffalo in the first period, but only one out of their 17 shots beat Sabres star goalie Ryan Miller. Danny Briere scored a nice rebound goal for his fourth tally of the playoffs, proving why he’s the leading playoff scorer of the post-lockout era (according to James Mirtle).

Chris Pronger is “playing” in today’s game, although his ice time (2:29 so far) has been limited to the Flyers’ man advantage situations. The hulking defenseman still made an impact on the game ... but it was a negative, one. He received a penalty after getting into it with the Sabres’ own over-sized blueliner Tyler Myers. Both defensemen probably deserved a penalty, but only Pronger got one.

When you add that Pronger penalty to an Andrej Meszaros high-sticking infraction shortly thereafter, a short Philly 5-on-3 quickly turned to a 4-on-3 for Buffalo.

Ultimately, the Flyers showed plenty of energy in the opening period, yet keep self-destructing, whether it be on defense, in net or in the penalty box. If they want to stage another improbable comeback, they’ll need to match their desperation with some intelligence.

Click here to watch Game 6 with us on NHL Extra