Just last week, Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov was "lost in the woods" and "couldn’t stop the puck."
On Wednesday night in Buffalo, he was better than an all-star.
Bryzgalov one-upped Ryan Miller by making 29 saves against the Sabres, allowing the Flyers to hang on and win 3-2 at First Niagara Center. Philadelphia improves to 7-4-1 with the victory while Buffalo drops to 6-5 in defeat.
The Flyers scored all three of their goals in the opening period.
Sean Couturier (assisted by Andreas Lilja and Jakub Voracek) wristed one in just over a minute into the game, which must have put a little fire under the keister of James van Riemsdyk, who sank one in from 47 feet a mere 13 seconds later.
And he had a little help from Zac Rinaldo.
The Orange & Black would score the winning goal a few minutes later when Scott Hartnell’s slapshot (assisted by Claude Giroux and Jaromir Jagr) found the net at the 6:23 mark.
Buffalo tried to mount a comeback by scoring goals in the second and third period, first by Andrej Sekera (assisted by Jordan Leopold and Luke Adam) at 7:49 in the second and then again by Luke Adam (assisted by Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville) at 8:29 of the final frame.
In the end, it wouldn’t be enough, as Bryzgalov protected the net and in the process, helped erase the painful memories of the debacle against the Winnipeg Jets back on Oct. 27.
Welcome back, Ilya.
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