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Doing the little things Sabres have pushed Flyers to the brink
By Ken Fidlin, SLAM! Sports BUFFALO -- Playoff series are won by an accumulation of little things. Soon enough, the rising tide of the apparently inconsequential becomes an overwhelming advantage. And so it has been for the Buffalo Sabres against the Philadelphia Flyers. They have not dominated a single game. Maybe not even a single period. But they find themselves on the verge of eliminating the Flyers in five games. "This has been an unbelievably tight series," said Curtis Brown, whose goal in overtime Tuesday tilted the series in Buffalo's favour. "The fourth win is always the hardest and you know that, in their own building, they're not going to make it easy for us. "You have to go in thinking that it's going to be another one-goal hockey game and we have to be ready with the same level of intensity." From his perspective, Dominik Hasek sees a need for Buffalo to be even more focused on the present for tonight's game. "Without even knowing it, you can relax a little bit too much," he said. "We have to understand that and overcome it." Such nonchalance very nearly cost them the fourth game when they surrendered a shorthanded goal that tied the game in the final 10 minutes of the third period. The goal turned into something of a wakeup call for the Sabres, who buzzed hard in the overtime session before Brown's goal at 6:13 gave them their 3-1 series lead. If you are statistically oriented, the past five playoff series between Buffalo and Philly have ended in five games. Ninety-one percent of teams that lead 3-1 go on to win the series. And 87% of teams that win the first two games of a series go on to win the round. In other words, it would be a major el foldo for the Sabres to blow this one. But if there's a team around that can climb up off the mat, the Flyers have the credentials. They have overcome many obstacles this year and still finished with a 100-point season. "We're still alive," Flyers centre Keith Primeau said after Tuesday's overtime loss. "We're not alive by much. It's an uphill battle, but it has been done before and it will be done again." It is always an uphill battle with this Flyer team. It is what makes them easy to admire as a collection of athletes but it is also their fatal flaw. Philadelphia seems to expend all its energy just trying to battle back from behind. When they get close, or tied, there is nothing left in the tank to close the deal. Of the 264 minutes that have been played in the series, Philadelphia has had the lead for just 24 minutes. That kind of struggle from behind just isn't the kind of scenario that will allow the Flyers to come all the way back. "Everyone is going to look at the odds of them coming back," Buffalo defenceman Jay McKee said. "But either team could have won all four games that have been played so far. By no means have we walked away with any game. It looks like it's in our favour but we still have to go out and do the work." "It's not like we're down 3-0," said defenceman Andy Delmore, the hero of Philly's only win and the goat on one of the goals in Game 4. "We're got our one, so we're going to have to be ready to go next game." At this point, the obvious difference in the series is that Buffalo has won the two overtime games, games that could have gone either way. Less obvious is the fact that so many wins in the small battles went into those games.
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