Question Marks Abound For Philly Before Game 2

Did the Sabres steal Game 1 of the Series on Thursday? Or was it a deserved win?

Will Philadelphia play the same game they did in Game 1 and plan on lighting the lamp this time? Or will they open it up?

Will Flyers coach Peter Laviolette add some offense by putting in Nik Zherdev, he of the 25 healthy scratches this season? Or will his stick with the line-up he has?

The Philadelphia powerplay went 0-5 including :38 of five-on-three. Trailing 1-0 a late thrid period powerplay produced zero shots. Was it the Sabres penalty kill that was exceptional? Or does the powerplay need some serious adjustments?

Young Flyers defenseman Danny Syvret was powned by the Sabres Patrick Kaleta as he allowed Kaleta to pounce on a rebound uninhibited for the game's only goal. Does he stay in? Or do the Flyers turn to veteran Nick Boynton?

Philly bench boss Peter Laviolette basically chalked it up to right game plan, wrong outcome. "I don't think it's the game we have a problem with; it's the score," he said. "But that's an issue. You're on limited time here in the playoffs, and you only get so much of it to make your mark."

On the surface there seems to be no real panic on the part of the Flyers. But you gotta wonder what they're thinking after throwing everything they had at the Sabres, only to be foiled.

"It's frustrating, obviously," captain Mike Richards said. "You wonder what went wrong and what you could have done. . . . Four or five times, we just missed tips."

And, I might add, you gotta wonder if goalie Philly's rookie goaltender Sergie Bobrovsky thinks he needs to play a perfect game in order to pull out a win in Game 2.

"Bob" was rarely tested in Game 1, but he made one mistake--a juicy rebound that Kaleta jumped upon. Across the ice is veteran goalie, and former Vezina winner, Ryan Miller who just pitched a shutout by not making a glaring mistake like that.

The series is young and should be a long one. But losing the first game of a series as a favorite after doing nearly everything you wanted to do except score does lead to question marks. And that makes the decision-making process for the coach and players all the more difficult.