CALGARY, Alberta — Against a highly-skilled but inconsistent Calgary team, the Flyers reconnected with the defining traits that led to their successful January, using them to douse the Flames, 4-3, on Monday.
Once again, the Flyers were hitting hard, blocking shots, dropping the gloves, and forechecking with speed. Most importantly, they let loose their penalty kill again.
While the Flyers don’t have the best penalty-kill percentage (76.3%, 21st), it’s among the most dangerous in the league in terms of swinging momentum the other way with 10 shorthanded goals. The Flyers did not score any shorthanded goals Monday, but two of their three goals were directly generated by the penalty kill, and a third came not long after a momentum-gaining kill.
The Flames’ first power play quickly became a four-on-four when they committed a penalty. Right after both players came out of the box, The Flyers’ Travis Konecny opened the scoring with a brilliant individual goal on the rush with 3 minutes, 1 second left in the firs period. The Flyers then killed a second power play and found Cam York as he sprung from the box. A hustling Nicolas Deslauriers drove the net and tipped in York’s pass to make it 2-0 about eight minutes into the second period.
On the third Flames power play, the kill found Nick Seeler as he exited the box. He bought time at the blue line, allowing his teammates to catch up and set up Tony DeAngelo’s goal from the high slot. Calgary finished 0-for-4 on the power play.
The Flames quickly responded to the Flyers’ second goal, scoring 1 minute, 25 seconds later, when Mikael Backlund took advantage when goalie Samuel Ersson was screened. They also created a number of quality chances, which Ersson had an answer for until he gave up a third-period goal to Tyler Toffoli.
When Andrew Mangiapane tied it with just over 11 minutes left, the Flyers showed their former resiliency and belief. Justin Braun and Scott Laughton won a battle on the boards to move the puck into the offensive zone. James van Riemsdyk then set up Wade Allison for the game-winning goal with 8:27 to go.
“It’s a dirty win for us,” York said. “It felt like a Flyers win.”
A big mix up
Amid a four-game losing skid, the Flyers came out with a completely different lineup for the fifth game in a row.
The biggest news was John Tortorella’s decision to make defenseman Travis Sanheim a healthy scratch. While Sanheim had made some mistakes in the last few games, he was far from alone and is averaging over 20 minutes per game. Justin Braun played instead, and Tortorella mixed up the defensive pairings as well.
The third line featured two career fourth-liners, center Patrick Brown and Deslauriers, centered by Noah Cates. Cates has played on the top two lines in all but seven games this season. He’s only played on the third line or lower once since the turn of the calendar, and he’s played with Deslauriers just twice and never with Brown.
Tortorella also chose to play Joel Farabee at fourth-line center. Farabee briefly played center last season, but that experiment did not last long. Farabee played a team-low 3:52.
A pErsson of note
In his sixth NHL start, Ersson looked like he was making his 60th start. With the Flames’ offense heating up, he kept a cool head, something he’s quickly becoming known for.
Ersson’s teammates were playing with more effort and speed than they have in the past few games, but they still let opposing players slip through gaps in their defense for 36 shots on goal. Ersson calmly made saves, even when he had to do a split to defend the backdoor.
The second goal Ersson let in was the weakest of the night, slipping just over his glove. But the defense did him no favors on the other two, and he made enough jaw-dropping saves to give his team a chance to win. In all, he stopped 33 of 36 shots, including several of the 10-bell variety.He is the eighth NHL goalie to start his career 6-0-0.
“Really?” Laughton said. “That’s money on the board tomorrow.
“He’s very steady back there, a guy you want to play in front of. ... I don’t know much about goalies, but he doesn’t move too much. He’s always in position.”
A homecoming of sorts
Ontario-native Konecny does not claim the Toronto Maple Leafs as his hometown team. At one point, he allegedly claimed the Detroit Red Wings, although he will deny it now. To Sanheim’s aggravation, Konecny now says the Flames are his hometown team because he recently bought a house nearby.
Whether or not the moniker is accurate, Konecny put on a show for the home crowd. He buzzed all over the ice. And when he got a jump on the Flames on the break, he looked just like the Konecny of December, confidently maneuvering around his opponents and snapping a wrist shot past Jacob Markström.
He crashed the net hard, rather than sticking to the perimeter or passing it out wide. He also crashed the boards hard, making a big hit to help disrupt a Flames power play. He helped set up one of the goals immediately following a Flames power play for his second point of the night. However, he took a hit from behind from MacKenzie Weegar and left the game midway through the second period with an upper-body injury. He did not return.
“Really big loss for us in the middle of a type of game like that,” Tortorella said, adding that Konecny has really gotten back to his game lately.
What’s next
The Flyers head to Edmonton to play the Oilers in the second game of their back-to-back on Tuesday evening.
