Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
The Flyers were in Calgary on Saturday night for the second half of a back to back in Western Canada. The Flyers defeated the Vancouver Canucks Friday night 3-2 in the shoot-out. The Flyers were dealing with the travel, the time difference, and an extended game the night before as they faced the Flames in the second game of their 2024-25 schedule.
Samuel Ersson who played a super solid game against the Canucks had the night off making way for Ivan Fedotov to get his first start of the season. Also Jett Luchanko who looked at home in his NHL debut sat out to make way for Noah Cates. Luchanko sitting out the Flames game is not to be read into as a reflection on his play in Vancouver. The ins and outs of the daily line-ups are often something that head coach John Tortorella deals with in a “big picture” sort of way.
The evening started with a touching tribute to Johnny Gaudreau who was a Calgary Flame for nine seasons from 2013 to 2022. The Flyers opened their preseason at home with a moment of silence in remembrance of Johnny and his brother Matthew’s tragic passing.
Philly vs Calgary
Calgary opened the scoring at 14:23 with an unfortunate goal that went in off of the upper body of Jonathan Huberdeau. It is hard to fault Fedotov for not seeing the puck, it took a prolonged review period before the goal was allowed. So Fedotov was not the only one who didn’t see the play clearly.
The Flyers put themselves at a disadvantage taking a penalty during a 4 on 4 situation, changing the dynamic to 4 on 3. MacKenzie Weegar quickly took advantage teeing up a laser from the top of the circle high blocker side at 12:17 of the 1st period. 2-0 Flames.
Rasmus Ristolainen was a big presence in the opening period. He’s looking healthy and fast so far this season, transitioning quickly between offensive and defensive efforts. Sometimes his ability to physically manipulate opposing players is almost comical. When he is on his game he often has the size-advantage and strength to just crumple the opposition. The period ended with a scrum in the corner where it appeared the Flames were trying to get under Risto’s skin,. He skated away unfazed like his mind was already on other things.
The Flyers doubled up the total in shots on goal during the 1st, outshooting the Flames 18-9. But on the big board where it counts the Flyers went into the first intermission down 2-0.
Second Period
Less than a minute in the Flyers had their second man advantage of the night. They were getting chances but nothing sustained. Calgary’s penalty kill was aggressive, forcing the Flyers to work in very tight quarters with the man advantage.
The Flyers got on the board 7:05 into the 2nd with a shorthanded goal. In typical “power-kill” fashion Travis Konecny broke into the offensive zone from the left hand side on a 2 on 1 with Scott Laughton. Konecny passed to Laughton at the right hand side of the net. Laughton looked like he was about to make “one too many” passes but instead put it perfectly on the stick of Konecny who scored his 1st short-handed goal of the season. You could audibly hear Konecny’s voice echo as he yelled “yes” in the quiet arena full of stunned fans.
17 Minutes
At 12.48 Martin Pospisil absolutely steam rolled Jamie Drysdale with a clean check at center ice. Tyson Foerster jumped in dropped the gloves with Pospisil who got the decision in the round and a much lighter sentence that Foerster. Foerster received 5 for fighting, two for instigating, and a ten minute misconduct.
It has become the norm as of late for players to retaliate when their teammates get bettered by an opposing player. It’s great to see players standing up for their teammates but checking is legal in the NHL. It’s one thing when a dirty hit is the issue, but when a player just gets caught flat he needs to take his lumps, get better at keeping his head up, and move on. Foerster’s prolonged stay in the box is a signal that the league may be trying to crack down on the practice. If the on ice officials see no reason to take action following a hit the players are going to have to relearn to follow their lead.
Thank you sir, may I have another
With the Flyers already shorthanded Travis Sanheim took a slashing penalty that gave the Flames a 5 on 3 advantage. Nazem Kadri fired the puck top corner glove side from the bottom of the circle to put the Flames up by two again. Fedotov was a key factor in killing the second penalty. He made several key saves to keep the Flames from increasing their lead even further.
Morgan Frost went to the locker room after a collision along the boards. He eventually returned to the game but appeared to be experiencing some lingering discomfort. This compounded the impact of having Foerster unavailable for an extended period of time.
Joel Farabee brought the Flyers back to within one with 1:49 left in the 2nd period. Brink entered the zone and passed cross ice to a breaking Farabee. Joel lifted the puck up and over the glove of Flames netminder Dustin Wolf.
Farabee looked super sharp during camp and throughout the preseason. He has really matured into a pro player in all aspects of his game. For the past two nights his timing has looked just a fraction of a second off. But everything clicked on this scoring play. The set up from Brink was perfect and Farabee’s wasted no time sending it home.
By the end of the period the Flyers were outshooting the Flames 31-16. Aside from putting themselves at a disadvantage with too many trips to the box they were doing lots of things right. Fedotov has made some tough saves. Two of the Flames goals were scored while the Flyers only had three players on the ice. All that being said the Flyers started the 3rd period down by a goal 3-2.
Third Period
The Flames came out swarming and Ivan Fedotov was up to the challenge making one key save after another. A Flyers powerplay midway through the period saw many chances but none that counted. Lots of great work between Michkov and Konecny but the puck simply refused to cross the goal line.
Fedotov kept the Flames at bay giving his team a chance to stay in the game. Finally on yet another odd man rush the Flames took a two goal lead with just over five minutes left. The Flyers were visibly running out of gas. 4-2
Seconds later Huberdeau made it 5-2 with his forth point of the night. The Flyers were suddenly getting blown out of a really close game. At 16:49 the Flyers went on the power play and compounded the advantage by pulling Fedotov to go six skaters against four.
Travis Konecny scored his second goal of the night on the PP to make it 5-3 with just under three minutes left. After scoring the goal T.K. went back to grab the puck for Matvei Michkov who picked up his first NHL point with the assist.
Fedotov went back into the net for the ensuing faceoff then followed his team up ice to the bench to get the extra attacker on the rush. The Flames got control of the puck and Kadri scored his second goal of the night on the empty net from behind the red line.
You can’t judge this game based on the final score any more than you can by the shots on goal. The Flyers outshot the Flames 40-32 and lost the game 6-3 after Ivan Fedotov put up a fine performance in the net. So after you analyze all the stats crumple up your paper, throw it in the trash, and get yourself ready for Tuesday night’s 10 o’clock game in Edmonton. The Western road trip continues.
Extra Credit: Tonight Farabee registered 1 goal on 3 shots. Konecny 2 goals on 5 shots. Over the two nights combined Konecny has 9 shots on goal. Foerster spent 19:08 in the penalty box and has 8 shots on goal, Frost spent part of the 2nd game injured in the locker room and has 7, Sean Couturier has 1. Coots has been quiet. He picked up an assist on the Farabee goal tonight but he’s got more noise in him than that.
