Flames Best Flyers 6-3 With Unexpected Fast Start

The Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers have a lot in common. Both teams start with “F” and are hovering near the playoff cut line (Calgary entered Tuesday tied for the last spot in the Western Conference, while the Flyers were four points back of a spot). They also combined for a notable trade last week that saw Calgary ship Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier (plus draft picks) for long-time Flyers Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. All four faced their former team for the first time on Tuesday night.

One thing both teams usually have in common is a lack of offensive punch. But that went out the window during a wild opening period that saw six goals find the back of the net, including four in a 2:15 span. The Flames put in four of those, their first time scoring that many goals in a period all season. Calgary led by multiple goals for the final 40 minutes en route to a needed 6-3 victory.

Game Recap

Both teams failed to capitalize on early power plays as they looked to shake the cobwebs off. But it didn’t take long for the Flames to find their form, taking a 2-0 lead 37 seconds in. Connor Zary started the scoring with a deflection at point-blank range, and Nazem Kadri buried Calgary’s next shot, picking the top corner on a quickly developing 2-on-1.

Things went from bad to worse for Philadelphia as the Flames quickly added another goal. Zary struck again, catching Samuel Ersson off balance in reverse VH and banking it off him right near the goal line. It took less than 10 minutes for Calgary to exceed its season average of 2.53 goals per game entering Tuesday. That goal also chased Ersson from the net, with backup Ivan Fedotov entering just 9:32 into the game.

The goalie change did give the Flyers an immediate spark. Noah Cates scored his fourth goal in five games since the 4 Nations Face-Off, beating Dustin Wolf top shelf seconds after a Calgary penalty. A few nice Fedotov saves briefly calmed things down, but Kuzmenko cranked up the energy with a neutral zone takeaway that led directly to a beautiful snipe from the slot. But just when it seemed like the Flyers were back in it, a rebound trickle snuck through Fedotov’s five-hole, erasing his good work from earlier and restoring Calgary’s two-goal edge courtesy of Yegor Sharangovich.

Things largely returned to normalcy in the second period, although the teams did combine to hit the post three times. It looked like the goal-scoring had completely dried up until Nick Seeler put Calgary on a late power play by high-sticking Blake Coleman. Frost got some redemption with good work in the blue paint that jarred the puck loose for a goal by MacKenzie Weegar.

Meanwhile, the Flyers couldn’t capitalize on their late second-period power-play chance. While Matvei Michkov trimmed the deficit with a rebound goal halfway through the third period, his rookie-leading 20th tally, Matt Coronato put the icing on the cake with the empty netter after another late Flames kill.

The loss kicks off a seven-game homestand for Philadelphia, a stretch they desperately need to go well to have a chance of making the playoffs. Calgary moved two points ahead of the idle Vancouver Canucks (who now have a game in hand) for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Both teams play their final game before the trade deadline on Thursday — the Flyers host the Winnipeg Jets six days after beating them 2-1 in a shootout on the road, while the Flames finish a six-game road swing with a daunting task against the Dallas Stars.