The Philadelphia Flyers lost a low-event game to the Calgary Flames, 2-1, at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday evening. Two goals by Calgary veteran Jonathan Huberdeau led the way for the Flames.
Huberdeau (3rd goal of the season) broke a scoreless tie early in the second period. Huberdeau (4th) scored again for a 2-0 lead in the third period. Aleksei Kolosov stopped 19 of 21 shots in a losing cause. Dustin Wolf earned the win with 17 saves on 18 shots.
First period synopsis
The Flyers had two of the game's first three shots on net through 3:31. None were dangerous. Sean Couturier went to the net and was hit by a Cam York shot above the right knee. The captain winced but stayed in the game.
At 9:49, Trevor Zegras snapped off a shot from the top of the left circle. Shots were 3-3.
Kolosov made his fourth -- and toughest -- save of the first period -- at 17:11. The shot was routine but he had traffic at the doorstep.
Calgary went to the game's first power play as Bobby Brink was called for a neutral zone hook. Dvorak had a shorthanded semi-breakway that missed the net. Kolosov stopped a Mackenzie Weegar shot from the mid slot.
With 2.3 seconds left in the period, Rasmus Andersson went off for hooking. The game reached intermission with 20 seconds of 4-on-4 and then 1:38 of Flyers power play time looming.
Shots: Flyers 3 - Flames 10
Faceoffs: Flyers 13 - Flames 12
Notable:
* A low-event frame that saw seven icing violations and 25 faceoffs. The Dvorak chance was the period's only true Grade A scoring opportunity, and that one missed the net. The Flyers' last shot came with 10:12 left in the period.
* The Flyers had the majority of puck possession but struggled to get puck on net -- eight got blocked and four missed the net.
* Noah Cates won four of seven faceoffs.
* Cam York led all skaters with 9:44 of ice time.
* Former Flyers center Morgan Frost was credited with two takeaways in the period. Overall, the Flyers had 10 turnovers: six charged giveaways and four takeaways by Calgary.
Second period synopsis
After the Flyers power play expired, Calgary gained the zone and Huberdeau scored on a rising shot that beat Kolosov to the blocker side. The assists went to Yegor Sharangovich and Kevin Bahl at 2:15.
At 3:45, Egor Zamula fired a deep slot shot. Travis Konecny passed up an open shot in a better spot. There was no traffic in front of Wolf.
On back-to-back shifts, Jamie Drysdale showed off his good wheels in aiding the Flyers' attack. Shots were 4-3 Calgary through a TV timeout at 8:43.
Calgary went to the power play at 13:20 as Owen Tippett was called for a needless stick infraction (slashing). The Flyers caught a break when a Nazem Kadri one-timer from the right circle off a Frost setup beat Kolosov but hit the inside of the post and stayed out.
Shots: Flyers 6 (9 overall) - Flames 7 (17 overall)
Faceoffs: Flyers 8 (20 overall) -Flames 8 (21 overall)
Notable:
* Through two periods, the Flyers missed the net on 12 shot attempts and got blocked on another 14. In general, the Flyers didn't get pucks into potential scoring areas nearly enough. Wolf hardly had to work for most of his nine saves.
* York led the Flyers with 15:53 of ice time through two periods.
* Noah Cates was 5-for-16 on faceoffs over the first 40 minutes.
* Calgary's Frost led all skaters with three shots on goal through two periods. Joel Farabee played 12:13 with three credited hits and one shot on goal.
Third period synopsis
The Flyers juggled their line combinations in the third period. Abols had the period's first shot for either team at 2:44. The new combos: Zegras-Dvorak-Tippett; Grebenkin-Cates-Konecny; Michov-Couturier-Brink; Abols-Gaucher-Hathaway.
The Flyers generated their first extended pressure of the game around six minutes into the period. Weegar blocked three shots in the sequence. Shots for the period at that point were 2-0 Flyers, 17-11 Calgary overall.
Huberdeau deflected a Weegar point shot into the net for a 2-0 lead at 7:06. The assists went to Weegar and Joel Hanley. Frost won the initial faceoff back to Hanley at the point.
With 5:56 left, third period shots were a mere 4-3 Flyers but Calgary made theirs count on the Huberdeau deflection. At 14:09, Wolf gloved down a Konecny shot from the left circle.
Noah Cates won the ensuing draw back to Konecny, who immediately fired and scored at 14:20.
