In the second leg of a back to back, the Flyers fade against the Calgary Flames on home ice to fall to 6-5-1. Let’s wrap:
Pedestrian Performance
Leading into this game, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet stressed that his team needed to get more pucks to dangerous areas of the ice. That didn’t happen on Sunday, as Philadelphia again appeared to have difficulty simplifying their games in this loss.
“It was an ugly game,” Tocchet said. “I feel bad for the fans, it wasn’t a fun game to watch.”
The coach also said that he felt his team lacked “will.” Or in other words, a desire to get difficult areas on the ice to manufacture some offense when all else fails. He went on to reference Calgary’s goals, both from Jonathan Huberdeau, with one being through a screen and the other being a deflection with traffic in front of Aleksei Kolosov.
“It’s hard in this league if you want to play in May, you got to play hard hockey,” Tocchet said. “I think we’re finding easy ice. A lot of guys, even some our best players, they want to find the easy ice, not the hard ice. That’s the bottom line.”
Konecny Scores Late
At the 14:20 mark of the third period, Travis Konecny snapped a wrist shot past Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf after a faceoff win from Noah Cates. This tally temporarily gave Philadelphia a jolt, but the Flyers weren’t able to push another goal across.
They Said It
Travis Konecny on the Flyers Defense: “I thought the D did a good job of putting pucks there tonight and it’s on us (the forwards) to keep going to the net because the D is doing a better job.”
Sean Couturier on the Flyers simplifying their game: “I think guys are almost trying too hard to make plays. Everyone wants to make the pretty play, the tic-tack-toe play and beat guys one-on-one, but it’s hard in this league to do that. Teams are pretty solid defensively when you play on the outside, you have to create more in the middle.”
Aleksei Kolosov on adapting to North America in the last year: “A lot more comfortable. I know everybody, it makes leaving a lot easier because I know where to go.”
Did You Know?
The Flyers penalty kill ranks 2nd in the NHL this season and went 2-for-2 Sunday night. As a result, Philadelphia has now gone six games without allowing a goal on the man advantage .
On Deck
The Flyers will head out onto the road on Tuesday for a brief, two game roadtrip beginning at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The game will be broadcast locally on NBCSP with puckdrop set for 7:00 p.m.
