Posted on Sun, Apr. 23, 2006

Despite Esche's efforts, Flyers fall in overtime

He turned back 55 shots to keep his team in the game.
But he couldn't stop the Sabres' tip shot in the second extra period.

By Tim Panaccio
Inquirer Staff Writer

(AP)
Buffalo's Daniel Briere (48) pokes the puck under the pads of Flyers goalie Robert Esche, who makes a save as Denis Gauthier (23) helps defend.BUFFALO - They were badly outshot. They were largely outplayed. And they forced their goalie to stand on a bed of nails.

The Flyers nearly stole Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series last night against the Sabres at HSBC Arena. Buffalo won, 3-2, in double overtime on Daniel Briere's tip-in at 7 minutes, 31 seconds. Game 2 is tomorrow night.

Despite the loss, Robert Esche was magnificent. He single-handedly kept the Flyers in the game with a career-high 55 saves.

The playoffs are all about goaltending, special teams and being opportunistic. The Flyers had the goaltending and were stellar on the penalty kill (9 for 9). But when Buffalo could not win it in regulation, the Flyers failed to be opportunistic in overtime despite numerous chances.

"He was spectacular," Petr Nedved said. "Obviously, he kept us in the game that long. He gave us every opportunity to win the game."

Question is, how will the Flyers handle the emotional crush of losing?

"This is as emotional a game we have played in the last 40 games of the season," said Mike Knuble, who was outstanding. "It's a real gut-check time for us to try and split the series and go back to Philly 1-1. The good thing, they are probably as tired as we are."

Simon Gagne and Sami Kapanen both had great chances to win it during the overtimes. Typical of Esche's heroics: He had a chest knockdown of Jochen Hecht's shot off a two-on-one midway into the first extra period, then stopped Paul Gaustad's rebound.

With 8:23 left in the first overtime, R.J. Umberger was leveled at his own blue line by Brian Campbell with a high shoulder check to the chin. He had to be helped off the ice with blood trickling from his mouth.

"It looked like a pretty solid hit," Knuble said.

Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said Umberger was "good to go" for Game 2. Will his team be the same?

"I think we'll be fine," Hitchcock said. "It took us a period and a half to get up to the speed of the game. Once we got up to the pace of the game, we were fine. We were much better in the second half of the game.

"We need to get more players up to speed, though. We have to make some decisions on personnel - how we want to play - and then we've got to get ourselves up to speed quicker in the game."

Buffalo's speed, especially in the third period, included one odd-man rush after another that Esche stopped.

"He was really awesome," Knuble said. "He was the reason we were in the game."

The Flyers gained energy and momentum off Esche's performance as the game wore on.

"No matter what kind of chance they got, he was able to get a piece of it and keep us in the game," Knuble said. "As a player and bench, you have to feed off the fact he is on tonight and we better be on, too, and help him out. He was phenomenal tonight. If we can get that every night, we'll do well."

The Flyers seldom had the puck for any sustained length of time in regulation.

Trailing by 2-1 with 1:51 left in regulation, Gagne got a pass from Knuble across the crease and lifted it over a fallen Ryan Miller to tie the game.

Knuble had cut the Flyers' deficit to 2-1 late in the second period with a goal. It marked the ninth consecutive game (including regular season) he's scored against Buffalo. Elias Sports Bureau believes that's a modern-day NHL record since expansion.

Knuble came right back to seemingly tie the game, knocking a puck out of the air with a high stick above the crossbar that went to review and was correctly disallowed.

Peter Forsberg, stifled by Chris Drury and held to two shots in the game, coughed up the puck in the first period fanning on a pass. Tim Connolly stole it and scored his first career playoff goal. Buffalo got another from Jay McKee in the second period for a 2-0 lead yet failed to hold it.

"They got the final break at the end," Knuble said.

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Contact staff writer Tim Panaccio at 215-854-2847 or tpanaccio@phillynews.com.