All Buffalo needed was a Jason Pominville goal in the first period as Ryan Miller shut out the Flyers for the second time in this series as the Sabres even it up a two games a piece.
The Flyers really dominated the majority of the game, but Miller made one spectacular save after the other to keep them off the board. The Flyers put 32 shots on the reigning Vezina trophy winner and he stopped them all. Brian Boucher played a great game himself stopping 28 of 29 shots but it wasn’t quite in a enough in a very physical and chippy game four.
James van Reimsdyk led the Flyers in shots and hits as he continues to be their most active forward in this series. He nearly put a rebound past Miller in the final seconds that could have sent the game to overtime.
Jeff Carter was knocked out of the game in the first period for what is being called a lower body injury. He did not return.
Mike Richards drew a controversial five minute major for elbowing at the very end of the second period. With Richards tied up near the Sabres bench, Buffalo’s Patrick Kaleta took a run at him and the Flyer captain put up an elbow that caught Kaleta in the head. It wasn’t quite the vicious, blindside shot that got the Penguins’ Chris Kunitz suspended when he went after Simon Gagne… but it was an elbow to the head and it wasn’t an accident. It will be interesting to see what if any response the NHL has to the incident. There’s no doubt that they will at least be reviewing it.
The series now shifts back to Philadelphia for game five on Friday night.