Another Road Win For Philly

NHL playoffs

The Philadelphia Flyers can’t ask for much more. They are halfway through clinching a berth in the Eastern Conference finals - and they still haven’t been home.

Garth Snow made 29 saves, and the Flyers jumped to an early lead en route to a 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday, giving Philadelphia a two-game lead in the conference semifinals. Game 3 is Wednesday night at the CoreStates Center.

“Two games, two wins,” Snow said. “We have a couple more coming up, and we have to play even better.”

Philadelphia played solidly from the opening faceoff and outmuscled Buffalo for most of the game. Mikael Renberg and Chris Therien gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead in the first 17 minutes, and they held off Buffalo in the third period.

Jason Dawe broke up Snow’s shutout with a goal late in the second period, but the Sabres were unable to solve Snow again. Snow has allowed just one goal since the second period of Game 1.

“Snowy did a good job out there,” Flyers coach Terry Murray said. “He had a lot of pressure on him in the second period. They kept dumping the puck in and throwing everything at the net. He kept coming up with the big stop.”

Buffalo has not won a second-round playoff game since beating Boston 14 years ago and looked like a team that might not win again this season.

The Sabres played well in Philadelphia’s 5-3 victory in Game 1, but they came out flat Monday and never fully recovered. They had just eight shots in the third period and didn’t threaten when they pulled Steve Shields in the final moments.

“We didn’t fight all year to get where we are and then lose two games and fold it up,” Sabres coach Ted Nolan said. “This series is far from over.”

The Sabres already were missing Dominik Hasek to a three-game suspension when they found out Michael Peca, their top defensive forward, would miss the game because of back spasms.

Flyers 2, Sabres 1

Philadelphia 2 0 0 - 2

Buffalo 0 1 0 - 1

First period-1, Philadelphia, Renberg 3 (LeClair), 4:47. 2, Philadelphia, Therien 1 (Zubrus, Desjardins), 16:49. Second period-3, Buffalo, Dawe 2 (Ward, Shannon), 18:18. Third period-No scoring. Shots on goal-Philadelphia 13-10-14-37. Buffalo 9-13-8-30.Power-play opp.-Philadelphia 0 of 4; Buffalo 0 of 4.Goalies-Philadelphia, Snow 6-1 (30 shots-29 saves). Buffalo, Shields 3-4 (37-35).A-18,595 (18,595).