In the second game of the Philadelphia Flyers’ back-to-back, they fell to the Calgary Flames 6-3 in a physical battle.
Before the puck dropped, the Flames paid respect to Johnny Gaudreau with a beautiful video tribute to some highlight reel moments of his time with the Flames. The Flyers and Flames players took the ice to pay their respects. This was the Flames’ home opener, and they wanted to celebrate Johnny’s life with everyone in attendance.
Physicality rules the opening period
The first period was off to a tough start for Philadelphia as Jonathan Huberdeau scored a little over five minutes in past Flyers’ netminder Ivan Fedotov. Ryan Poehling, over a minute later, was sent to the penalty box for tripping, and the Flames were able to capitalize on their power play, allowing MacKenzie Weegar to increase the lead to 2-0 not even eight minutes into the contest.
At the end of the first 20 minutes, the two teams were pushing and shoving before they cleared the ice. Many recall the physicality between these two teams in Philadelphia last season. For unknown reasons, these two clubs bring out a physical side to each other.
More intensity in the second
The second period was the most chaotic of the contest. Poehling was sent to the penalty box for the second time in this game, but it resulted in a shorthanded goal by Travis Konency. Last season, Konecny led the NHL in shorthanded goals with six. One of the shorthanded goals last season was actually against the Flames.
After the excitement from the goal, the focus sat on Tyson Foerster having his first career fight. Martin Pospisil had a big hit on Jamie Drysdale, and without hesitation, Foerster raced over to Pospisil to defend Drysdale. With Drysdale being injured last season and utilizing this entire offseason to get healthy, seeing the defenseman take that big of a hit was concerning. Luckily, the Flyers are a close-knit team, and Foerster was served with 17 minutes’ worth of penalties.
Head coach John Tortorella admitted that he thought Foerster did the right thing, but it hurt the team not to have him on the ice. As for Drysdale, he said, “You always appreciate when someone stands up for you like that.” The scoring continued for the Flames as Nazem Kadri scored on the power play. Calgary now takes a two-goal lead again, being up 3-1. To keep the contest at a one-goal game, Joel Farabee got his first goal of the season, now making it a 3-2 Flames lead.
The Flyers found a silver lining in the third
The third period was ugly and sloppy. With the Flyers’ defensive core not playing their best hockey, it was easy for the Flames to score two goals less than a minute apart. Fedotov’s reaction time needed to be on par with what was seen with Sam Ersson the night prior.
Travis Konecny scored his second goal in the game, but it was on the power play this time. The one big takeaway from this goal was that Matvei Michkov set up the pass to Konecny. This meant that the star was able to record his first NHL point. Finally, the Flames would later capitalize on the Flyers’ empty net, which gave them a 6-3 win.
Philadelphia stays out west, heading to Edmonton to take on the Oilers on Tuesday night for another 10 pm puck drop.
Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
