One of the Sabres games in hand on the Rangers and Hurricanes comes tonight against one of the toughest opponents to try and gain ground, the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers sit atop the Eastern Conference with a 40-17-6 record and they have beaten the the Sabres already twice this season by a combined score of 11-5 in those two meetings. As it stands right now, the Sabres have a 54.8% chance of making the playoffs, with a win that increases 8.3% to 64.1%.
Expect Jhonas Enroth to get the start tonight as he has been called up from Portland to play in one of the two games this weekend. He has joined the team in Philly and it really makes no sense for him to tag along with the team to play in Minnesota tomorrow. Enroth hasn't faced the Flyers this season, but is 3-2-1 with all three wins coming in shootouts. Here are some nuggets to chew on before the game starts.
- The Flyers are 28-5-3 when they have scored first this season but have lost three games this past week scoring first.
- Andrej Sekera has six points (1+5) in his last three games after being scratched.
- Brad Boyes' two goals as a Sabre is the first such occasion a played has scored in his first two games since Jochen Hecht did it in 2002.
Game time is 1:00 pm Eastern and can be seen on MSG.