Post-Game: Flyers Fleece Flames
By Ryan Pike
8 years agoAfter a busy and emotional few days that saw a few teammates head out of town, the Calgary Flames met the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at Wells Fargo Center.
They lost 5-3 in a game that was the best and the worst of the Flames.
THE RUNDOWN
The Flames opened the scoring on the power-play, as Sean Monahan converted on a nice feed from Johnny Gaudreau to make it 1-0. But about six minutes later, the Flyers responded back as Brayden Schenn beat Jonas Hiller to make it 1-1. The Flyers out-shot Calgary 9-6 and out-attempted them 24-14.
The Flyers took the lead five minutes into the second; with Dougie Hamilton in the penalty box, Wayne Simmonds scored to make it 2-1. The Flames had some chances to tie it back up, but couldn’t, and then Schenn scored his second of the night to make it 3-1. Deryk Engelland got called for boarding shortly after that goal, and Schenn completed his hat-trick on the power-play to make it 4-1 after two periods. Shots were 13-13 and attempts were 27-26 for the Flames.
The third period saw the Flames push back, as a combination of score effects and stubbornness got them close. After a lot of pressing, Micheal Ferland beat Michal Neuvirth (with newcomer Garnet Hathaway screening him) to make it 4-2. A little bit after that, Michael Frolik scored off the rush as his shot trickled through Neuvirth to make it 4-3. Unfortunately, the Flames couldn’t tie it up and Wayne Simmonds scored into the empty-net for his second of the game to ice it. Shots were 13-7 Flames and attempts were 30-14 in their favour, but it wasn’t enough to get a point.
THE NUMBERS
| (All Situations) | CorsiFor% | OZStart% |
| Ferland | 54.84% | 88.89% |
| Bennett | 60.53% | 88.89% |
| Hathaway | 60% | 83.33% |
| Nakladal | 65.62% | 70% |
| Gaudreau | 62.5% | 60% |
| Hamilton | 50.98% | 60% |
| Colborne | 72.22% | 54.55% |
| Monahan | 65% | 54.55% |
| Backlund | 53.19% | 53.85% |
| Wotherspoon | 59.38% | 50% |
| Engelland | 53.33% | 46.15% |
| Frolik | 51.43% | 40% |
| Giordano | 50% | 38.46% |
| Brodie | 44.44% | 38.46% |
| Jooris | 50% | 33.33% |
| Bouma | 30.43% | 0% |
| Stajan | 23.81% | 0% |
| Bollig | 28.57% | 0% |
WHY THE FLAMES LOST
Nah, they lost because their defensive zone coverage and play is still pretty lousy, and their penalty kill is horrible. Five on five they were pretty good, but they were bad enough situationally that the Flyers weren’t given too much trouble until the very end. We did see a return of a feisty third period comeback attempt, which was a nice change of pace from the listless and formless thirds we’ve seen from them of late when they’ve trailed.
RED WARRIOR
Let’s go with the new guy. Garnet Hathaway crashed and banged around all night, and he was a big part of Micheal Ferland’s goal that nearly sparked a third-period comeback.
Not bad for a first impression.
UP NEXT
The Flames hopped on a plane and headed to Boston immediately after this game, as they face the Bruins at TD Garden tomorrow night.
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