Fedotov has up-and-down night as Flyers fall to Flames for first loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Flyers dropped the second game of their season-opening back-to-back set with a 6-3 decision Saturday night to the Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta.
John Tortorella’s club trailed by only one with under five and a half minutes left. But it also trailed for all but a little over five and a half minutes of the game.
Travis Konecny scored two of the Flyers’ goals and Joel Farabee netted the other one.
The Flyers are 1-1-0. They beat the Canucks, 3-2, in a shootout Friday night.
Against the Flames, the Flyers put up 40 shots. Calgary slammed the door with an empty-net goal.
Saturday night was the home opener for the Flames, who are off to a 2-0-0 start. The Flyers won’t see them again until March 4 in Philadelphia.
• Making his second career NHL start, Ivan Fedotov converted 26 saves on 31 shots. He was not nearly as bad as the shot differential or his numbers may indicate.
Two of Calgary’s goals came on the power play, with the second one at 5-on-3. Tyson Foerster and Travis Sanheim were in the penalty box when the Flames cushioned their lead to 3-1 during the second period.
Foerster dropped the gloves to defend Jamie Drysdale after the defenseman took a big hit from Martin Pospisil in the neutral zone. But the 22-year-old winger was given an instigator and then Sanheim was whistled for slashing.
In the third period, Calgary made it 4-2 off a 2-on-1 rush with 5:14 minutes remaining. The Flyers were caught with four deep in the offensive zone and only Cam York back in coverage. After that goal, Jonathan Huberdeau scored 48 seconds later and that was pretty much the game.
Before the halfway mark of the first period, Fedotov was hurt by a funky ricochet off of Huberdeau and then a power play blast from MacKenzie Weegar. The 6-foot-7 netminder struggled tracking the puck on the man advantage goal but Weegar’s shot was legit.
Could Fedotov have played better overall? Absolutely. He was a bit unorthodox at times. However, 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 notched his first career NHL point with the Flyers on a third-period power play and their net emptied for the extra attacker.
The 19-year-old winger found Konecny to trim Calgary’s lead to 5-3. Konecny made sure to scoop up the milestone puck for Michkov.
The Flyers gave Jett Luchanko a breather with the game being the second night of a back-to-back set. The rookie center turned 18 years old not even two months ago and the Flyers had the reliable Noah Cates ready with fresh legs.
• Konecny’s other goal came on a second-period penalty kill. His shorthanded sidekick Scott Laughton assisted it.
Konecny leads the NHL in shorthanded goals since 2022-23 with 10, while Laughton is first in shorthanded points over that span with 16.
• The injured Nick Seeler missed a second straight game as the Flyers went with the same six defensemen from the opener.
• The Flames honored the lives of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau before the game. The brothers were killed by a drunk driver on Aug. 29 in Salem County, New Jersey, while riding their bikes.
Johnny Gaudreau played parts of nine years in Calgary and was a six-time All-Star with the Flames.
• The Flyers start the back half of this season-opening four-game road trip Tuesday when they visit Connor McDavid and the Oilers (10 p.m. ET/ESPN).
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