The Philadelphia Flyers scored three goals in the first period on Wednesday to beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 in their first matchup since their Eastern Conference quarterfinal last season.

Scott Hartnell, Sean Couturier and James van Riemsdyk scored early in the first period of play for the Flyers, making the Sabres have to exchange goalie Ryan Miller after 11 shots for backup goalie Jhonas Enroth. Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov came out of the game with 29 saves. The last time Miller was pulled due to a poor performance was after allowing four goals in one period at Florida on Dec. 17, 2010

“We were really peppering him early,” Hartnell said in an interview with Fox Sports after the game. ”Against a top goalie like that, to get him out of there, it was pretty good for us to get pucks on net.”

The rest of the game was played with the Flyers on the defensive; by the end of the game, Enroth only saw 15 shots. Sabres Andrej Sekera was able to score in the second period, ending Bryzgalov’s shutout opportunity. The Flyers also spent the whole period in the penalty box, collecting 23 penalty minutes mostly due to a 10 minute misconduct penalty on Zac Rinaldo.

Luke Adam scored eight minutes into the third period, bringing the Sabres one goal away from tying up the game and a needed overtime. However, the Flyers were able to hold off or interrupt any offensive attempts for the rest of the game.

“Everyone battled hard and we were rewarded with two points,” Bryzgalov said. ”It was a really tough game for us. We played very good in the first period, but then in the second period we turned over the puck and got some penalties.

The Philadelphia Flyers (7-4-1) travel back home to face the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, while the Buffalo Sabres (6-5-0) get to welcome the Calgary Flames on Friday.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.facebook.com/philadelphiaflyers

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About the author

Brian Anderson
I'm currently studying journalism at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York. While I mainly cover sports such as Soccer and Ice Hockey, I also cover many stories regarding political and world news.