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The Philadelphia Flyers dropped to 6-5-1 on the season after a horrid 2-1 home loss to the Calgary Flames (3-9-2) on Sunday night. The game was beyond low-event and dull: it was downright awful hockey. Before the game, the Flyers had a team meeting about playing a simple game — pucks and traffic to the net, short but energetic shifts, etc. — in the second game of a back-to-back. The Flyers failed miserably.
Meanwhile, the Flames hardly looked better. Jonathan Huberdeau (3rd and 4th goals of the season) netted a pair goals: one through a screen, the other on a deflection. Nazem Kadri hit the post on a second period power play. Other than that, their own chances were sparse. Neither Aleksei Kolosov nor Dustin Wolf were tested much during the game.
Travis Konecny (4th) scored the lone Flyers goal. Noah Cates won a left circle draw and Konecny shot the puck immediately. The tally cut the deficit to 2-1 but the Flyers never really threatened much to tie the game.
The Good
- It’s all relative. We’ll have to grade this one on a curve to find some bright spots.
- Trevor Zegras’ home point streak ended. However, he was one of the more energetic and active Flyers in trying to make plays.
- On back-to-back second period shifts, Jamie Drysdale used his feet effectively to help the team on the attack.
- Sean Couturier (elbow) returned to the lineup after a one-game absence. He was one of the few Philadelphia players who battled to get to the net. At one first period juncture, Couturier got hit with a puck just above his knee. He didn’t miss a shift.
- Kolosov looked reasonably sharp.
The Bad
- The Flyers had decent offensive zone time but did very little with it. They mostly lived on the perimeter.
- Most of the Flyers’ shot attempts got blocked, missed the net or were routine saves for Wolf.
- The Flyers PK was fine again. However, the team took two needless restraining penalties.
- Far too many one-and-done rushes. Not enough forecheck. Too many passes into lower percentage areas.
The Ugly
- The entire hockey game was UGLY. No flow, no rhythm, little emotion. For example, there were seven icings just in the first period alone.
- 17 shots on goal, about a dozen of which were easy saves.
- It wasn’t exactly like the struggling Flames forced the issue. It was just a dog of a game. In fact, Tocchet apologized afterwards to the paying customers who spent their money to take in such an awful game from both sides.
