Wayne Simmonds Scores Two Goals After Receiving 25 Stitches Pre-Game as the Flyers Rout the Sabres 7-2
Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds took an errant puck off the crossbar from Scott Hartnell in pre-game warmups. Simmonds than went to the back got 25 stitches, came out with a full-face shield and scored 2 goals.
The game wasn’t an easy road for the Flyers at first as they fell behind 2-0 to the Buffalo Sabres, just 9:30 into the first period. Jason Pominville scored first on a cross-crease pass and than Philadelphia netminder Ilya Bryzgalov gave up a soft goal to Thomas Vanek. After that Bryzgalov, who was playing his first game since getting flu, was solid and stopped 27 of 29 in the game.
Max Talbot got the Flyers jump started with a goal :54 into the 2nd period and than drew a tripping penalty that sent the Flyers on the power play. Simmonds than scored the first of his two-goals on the night, both were on the power play. Ilya Bryzgalov said, “He’s a warrior.”
After that the Sabres had seen enough and pulled Jhonas Enroth and put in Ryan Miller, who was suppose to have the night off. It really didn’t matter because Erik Gustafsson also added a second period goal. After getting the drop pass from Jakub Voracek, Gus scored his first NHL goal. Gus became the seventh Flyers score his first NHL goal this year.
Voracek, Talbot, and Scott Hartnell would all add to total in the third period as the Flyers cruised to a 7-2 win. Claude Giroux closed the gap between him and Evgeni Malkin in points race by tallying five-assists.
The Flyers needed this win badly heading into a big showdown Saturday against their in-state rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins. Two-points is all that separate the Pens and the Flyers, with the Flyers just ahead of the Penguins.
Follow Johnny on Twitter @JohnnyMacNHL.
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