Saturday, April 29, 2006

The force of Forsberg

Philadelphia has battled their way back to even with Buffalo in their best of seven series and they can thank Peter Forsberg for their recent return to the playoff run.

Having been humiliated in Buffalo in game two, the Flyers have changed their style and matched the Sabres stride for stride, shot for shot and more than matched them in the goals department.

Friday night it was Forsberg’s magic that brought them back from the near dead, Forsberg tallied two goals and an assist as the Flyers edged the Sabres 5-4 in game four of their best of seven series. With the win the Flyers draw even with Buffalo and now put some pressure back on the Sabres as they head for game five in Buffalo on Sunday.

R. J. Umberger who we last saw flat on his back on the Buffalo ice, marked the go ahead goal midway in the third period with a shot that dribbled under Ryan Miller’s arm, one of the few soft goals the Buffalo goaltender has let in during the series.

Buffalo made a game of it through the third, refusing to go away and battled through til the final horn, but on this night Robert Esche held the fort and the Flyers stormed the other end to take away the bitter taste of the first two games in New York state.

It’s a whole new series now, a clean slate turned into a best of three showdown.

The Flyers with Forsberg on fire, suddenly believe in themselves again and played hard through game four, giving Buffalo indication that they are in for a lengthy war of attrition now.

Buffalo simply can’t afford to let their scoring chances slip by anymore, far too often Friday night they could not convert their chances and as the game progressed the Flyers were able to capitalize on the lucky bounces to take the win.

Throw all the stats out now, its two out of three games and a winner advances. If you thought this was an exciting series before, it’s about to get a whole lot more entertaining!

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