Philadelphia has not been performing like their usual selves these past few weeks, but managed to rebound after two straight losses with a huge, 7-2, victory as the Flyers thrashed Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night, February 16, 2012, at the sold-out Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Maxime Talbot and Wayne Simmonds worked hard for the Flyers group as they managed to grab two goals each along with assisting a number of shots as well, ultimately taking the Philadelphia group to victory.
Simmonds made a comeback after taking a puck to the face during a previous practise session of the team, requiring multiple stitches and time off, but still played like a top-notch player should.
"He's a warrior," said veteran Philadelphia goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, talking about Simmonds "He takes the hits by the puck every day in practice during the power play. He's an amazing kid and an amazing player. He pays the price in front of the net and that's why he was rewarded with the goals."
It was Simmonds second two-goal game of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season.
Tyler Ennis became the factor for Buffalo to score two straight in the opening period as Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek fired off back-to-back, giving the Sabres a dominating lead heading into round number two, but Philadelphia had a number of tricks under their sleeve.
Maxime Talbot triggered the shooting spree 54 seconds into the second while Wayne Simmonds added two consecutive goals on power plays nearly three minutes apart while Erik Gustafsson extended the gap to 4-2 and capped of the mid-period.
Talbot and Jakub Voracek added two more, less than a minute apart while Scott Hartnell potted the final goal of the night, giving Claude Giroux his fifth point (all assists).
"I guess everything that I was chipping was going into the net," said Giroux, who is close to tying for the league leader in goals and assists with 67 points in 53 games. "All the boys played great. I think we need a full team effort like we had tonight more often."
Philadelphia will remain at home as they prepare to host Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday while Buffalo Sabres return to the First Niagara Center in order to face-off with Montreal Canadiens on Friday.
