It truly was just one of those nights. It’s a long season. There are ups and downs. Some of the downs make sense, some don’t. The Flyers opened this season with what eventually turned into what you would call a hot streak. Hot streaks don’t go on forever and sometimes when they flame out you get a game just like tonight’s.
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Sure the Flyers were on the 2nd night of a back-to-back but so were the Calgary Flames. The Flames are on the road. They are from a different time zone 2,366 miles away. They were 2-9-2 coming into this game. The Calgary Flames are not currently a contender unless you are talking about the 2026 draft.
Aleksei Kolosov
With Samuel Ersson recovering from injury Aleksei Kolosov has come up from Lehigh Valley to fill the void. He ended up playing all but 33 seconds of the 3rd period last night when the Flyers hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs. He stopped all seven shots he faced in that game.
Kolosov got the start tonight against the Flames. He was a bright spot on a night where not many things were going well for the Flyers. He stopped 19 of 21 shots and looked solid doing so. The two he let in were not soft goals by any stretch. This loss was not his fault.
The Flames outshot the Flyers in the 1st period 10-3. Things started to liven up during the last two minutes with the Flames on the power-play the game totally opened up. Chances were being created at both ends of the ice. Travis Konecny was trying his best to chirp some life into the contest. It seemed like things were picking up just in time for the 1st intermission.
The Fans
Flyers Fans were patient and supportive of their team tonight. The crowd was loud and optimistic. Totally in the Flyers corner even on a rough night like this one. People wanted to have a good time. They wanted to see things turn around and they stuck with their team.
Just 2:15 into the second period Jonathan Huberdeau ripped a rocket of a wrist-shot right past Kolosov’s ear to give the Flames the 1-0 lead. With the butterfly style of goaltending most of the bottom of the net is covered when the goalie drops to their knees. From certain angles the only option is the areas on either side of the head. Huberdeau hit this target with precision and maximum velocity.
By the end of the middle period Calgary was outshooting the Flyers 17-9. What was strange about this game was the Flyers were playing a careful tentative style against the Flames like they were some dealing with one of the more dangerous teams in the league. They were tossing small ball passes at each other and getting forced to play from the perimeters.
The 2nd period ended with the Flyers down by one goal. This was absolutely not a lost cause. Their goaltender was playing a solid game and the fans were still had their back. Even though the game was a bit of a mess it did not seem at all out of reach if the Flyers could just find a way to return to the level of play we’ve all gotten used to over the last couple weeks.
The Flyers had a surge early in the final period. They were throwing everything but the kitchen sink towards the Calgary net. At one point goaltender Dustin Wolf was flat on his back while Flyers took turns lobbing pucks at the net and somehow nothing would go in.
Back Breaker
With the way things were going when Huberdeau scored his second goal of the game 7:06 into the 3rd period the two goal lead seemed almost insurmountable. The Flyers were not connecting on passes, there were inter squad collisions, missed opportunities, and defensive breakdowns. Nothing was going their way. On top of all that, to his credit, Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf was playing a pretty good game and made a few spectacular stops.
With 4:40 left in regulation there was a faceoff in the Calgary zone. Noah Cates won the draw back to Konecny who did not hesitate to fire a wrist shot that beat Wolf and brought the Flyers to within a goal.
Kolosov was pull to get the extra attacker on the ice with just 1:49 left in the game. Things would not materialize. The Flames held the Flyers to 18 shots-on-goal and beat them by the final score of 2-1 to earn their 3rd win of the season. It was just one of those nights.
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