The Philadelphia Flyers faced off against the Calgary Flames for the second and final time of the season.
Returning home following a two-game road trip, the Philadelphia Flyers played host to the Calgary Flames at the Wells Fargo Center. The Orange and Black were hoping to kick start a two-game winning streak after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday while the Flames were aiming to avoid a six-game losing skid and score a goal on the road for the first time since November 3rd.
Carter Hart got the nod from Head Coach Alain Vigneault, opposing David Rittich in-net. Hart looked to rebound from a less than stellar outing against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, where he was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots. It’s also worth noting that Shayne Gostisbehere was made a healthy scratch by AV in favor of Robert Hagg.
The opening ten minutes of the first period were rather boring, to be completely honest. The refs were whistle-happy, the game couldn’t find a rhythm, and both teams combined for just three shots-on-goal during that span. As I said, boring. Philadelphia and Calgary would go on to create a couple of chances each offensively, but neither found the back of the net as the game remained scoreless after one period of play.
The two sides traded shots and chances for a good portion of the second, with the Flyers creating a majority of both in each category. Their good play would eventually pay off as Jakub Voracek cashed in on a rebound behind Rittich to, finally, score the game’s first goal. This was Voracek’s 200th career tally and also broke a 12-game goal-less drought for the veteran winger. Philadelphia generated a little more offense thanks to a power-play opportunity as the period came to a close, but couldn’t extend their lead to two following 40 minutes of work.
Andrew Mangiapane tied the game back up early in the third, capitalizing on a turnover from Morgan Frost in the Flyers zone and putting his shot past Hart to put Calgary on the board. The puck deflected off of Philippe Myers in front, giving the young Philadelphia goaltender little chance to make the save. Kevin Hayes would put the Flyers up again with three minutes to go off of a great feed and forechecking effort from Joel Farabee, but Elias Lindholm scored with just 83 seconds remaining after Calgary pulled the goalie, sending the game to extras.
After the overtime period couldn’t decide a winner, the two teams went to a shootout where the Flyers fell to the Flames in Round 3 after Rittich stopped Sean Couturier with the glove. Philly’s inability to close out the game late is what did them in this afternoon and they paid the price for it by losing in a skills competition. As the saying goes, At Least We Got A Point.
The Flyers are now 11-7-5 on the season. Next game is Monday against the Vancouver Canucks.