Flyers vs. Sabres

Philadelphia -155 vs. Buffalo

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Two teams trying to climb the ladder in the Eastern Conference standings meet up in Philadelphia when the Flyers welcome in the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.

The Sabres (30-22-6) boast a high octane offense, but will have to go without their biggest reason for this, one of the NHLs leading goal scorers who resides on their roster. Thomas Vanek will be out until at least early March as he suffered a fractured jaw. Vanek easily leads Buffalo with 32 goals and the Sabres have only one other 20-goal scorer on the roster, Derek Roy.

They may gain another 20-goal scorer soon, however, if Drew Stafford keeps up his current pace. He netted two goals in a 4-1 road victory over Toronto in their last game out on Tuesday. He now boasts 17 goals, with eight of them coming in the last 11 games.

With Stafford increasing his production, his linemate, Roy, has been decreasing. The center has one goal and four assists over his past 10 games.

Weathering the storm without Vanek and a struggling Roy, the Sabres have turned to Ryan Miller. The goaltender is on a 5-2-1 clip with a 2.02 goals against average. Miller has also posted two shutouts over his last eight appearances in goal.

He will face a tough test in Philadelphia with the Flyers (30-16-9), who have scored five goals in each of their last two games, both victories over the weekend. In the most recent game, a 5-2 victory over the rival Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the Flyers scored four goals in the first nine minutes of the second period to put the game out of reach early.

Jeff Carter leads the team with 34 goals and 59 points is tops on Philadelphia, but none of the 10 goals scored on Saturday and Sunday belonged to him. This was actually a good sign for the Flyers who heavily relied on Carters offense to win games this season. They are 11-14-3 when he does not score, 19-2-6 when he does.

Carter did find the net in the teams first meeting on November 21st, in fact he found it twice when the Flyers shutout the Sabres 3-0 in Buffalo. Carter has terrorized Buffalo for six goals in this last five games against them.

The Sabres, however, love to play in the City of Brotherly Love. They have won five of their last six trips there.

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