Fedotov has a night full of ups and downs as the Flyers face their first loss against the Flames, which originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers lost the second game of their back-to-back season-opening set Saturday night, 6-3, to the Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta.
John Tortorella’s club was down by just one with less than five and a half minutes left. But the game remained behind for just over five and a half minutes.
Travis Konecny scored two of the Flyers’ goals and Joel Farabee scored the other.
The Flyers are 1-1-0. They defeated the Canucks 3-2 in a shootout on Friday night.
The Flyers fired 40 shots against the Flames. Calgary slammed the door shut with a scoreless goal.
Saturday night was the home opener for the Flames, who are off to a 2-0-0 start. They won’t see the Flyers again until March 4 in Philadelphia.
• Ivan Fedotov made his second career NHL start and made 26 saves on 31 shots. He wasn’t nearly as bad as his shooting differential or his numbers would suggest.
Two of Calgary’s goals came on the power play, the second on the 5-on-3 system. Tyson Foerster and Travis Sanheim were in the penalty box as the Flames trimmed their lead to 3-1 in the second period.
Foerster dropped the gloves to defend Jamie Drysdale after the defender took a heavy hit from Martin Pospisil in the neutral zone. But the 22-year-old winger got an instigator and then Sanheim was whistled for cutting.
With 5:14 minutes left in the third period, Calgary made it 4-2 in a 2-on-1 duel. The Flyers were caught with four players deep in the offensive zone and only Cam York was back in coverage. After that goal, Jonathan Huberdeau scored 48 seconds later and that was pretty much the game.
Before halftime of the first period, Fedotov was injured by a wayward rebound from Huberdeau and then by a power-play shot from MacKenzie Weegar. The 6-foot-2 goaltender struggled to track the puck toward the man-advantage goal, but Weegar’s shot was real.
Could Fedotov have played better overall? Absolutely. He was a bit unorthodox at times. But the power plays, the odd-man rush and the bad bounce didn’t help either.
Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf faced the Flyers for the first time in his career and made 37 saves.
• Matvei Michkov scored his first career NHL point with the Flyers on a third-period power play that emptied their net for the extra attacker.
The 19-year-old winger found Konecny and cut Calgary’s lead to 5-3. Konecny made sure Michkov secured the milestone puck.
The Flyers gave Jett Luchanko a breather as the game was the second night of a back-to-back set. The rookie center turned 18 less than two months ago and the Flyers had the reliable Noah Cates with fresh legs.
• Konecny’s other goal came on a second-period penalty. His understaffed buddy Scott Laughton assisted.
Konecny leads the NHL with 10 shorthanded points since 2022-23, while Laughton is tied for first with 16 shorthanded points during that span.
• The injured Nick Seeler missed a second straight game as the Flyers played with the same six defensemen since the first game.
• The Flames honored the lives of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau before the game. The brothers were killed by a drunk driver while bicycling in Salem County, New Jersey, on August 29.
Johnny Gaudreau played roles in Calgary for nine years and was a six-time All-Star with the Flames.
• The Flyers begin the second half of their four-game, season-opening road trip on Tuesday with a visit to Connor McDavid and the Oilers (10 p.m. ET/ESPN).
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | Youtube music | Spotify | stapler | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube