Wolf makes 17 saves for Calgary; Konecny scores for Philadelphia
CGY at PHI | Recap
PHILADELPHIA — Jonathan Huberdeau scored two goals and the Calgary Flames held on for a 2-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday.
Dustin Wolf made 17 saves for Calgary (3-9-2), which had lost its previous three games (0-2-1), including 4-2 at the Nashville Predators on Saturday. Wolf allowed three goals on 11 shots in the first period against Nashville before being replaced by Devin Cooley.
“It was great work ethic tonight,” Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. “I thought the guys were committed to playing the right way. That’s our standard here. That’s Flames hockey. … I just thought it was an overall great game from everybody, from top to bottom.”
Travis Konecny scored for Philadelphia (6-5-1), which lost for the second straight day after winning its previous three games. Aleksei Kolosov, making his first start of the season, made 19 saves.
CGY@PHI: Huberdeau fires a shot in through traffic
The Flyers had 18 shots on goal for the second time in three games, including nine through the first two periods. Coach Rick Tocchet said more pucks and more traffic at the net was a point of emphasis during a pregame meeting.
Philadelphia entered the game averaging 24.0 shots on goal per game, the second fewest in the NHL.
“You’ve got to keep pounding it, and we’ve got to find people who want to continue to do it,” Tocchet said. “We’ll find them. But it’s my job to get these guys to do it.
“It’s hard to win in this league. You want to play in April and May, you’ve got to play hard hockey. I think we’re finding easy ice. A lot of guys, even some of our best players, they want to play the easy ice and not the hard ice.”
Huberdeau made it 1-0 at 2:15 of the second period with a shot from the left face-off circle that went through a Yegor Sharangovich screen and over Kolosov’s right shoulder.
Weegar helped preserve the lead with three blocked shots in a six-second span about six minutes into the third period after Wolf collided with teammate Nazem Kadri.
“It’s a little chaotic when plays are hopping like that,” Weegar said. “I think that gets me into the game. That’s part of my game, part of the leadership that we talk about here, is blocking shots at the right time, putting your body on the line for the group. It was fun. I enjoy that kind of stuff.”
The Flames extended it to 2-0 at 7:06 of the third period when Huberdeau deflected Weegar’s shot from the right point past Kolosov.
Huberdeau has six points (three goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak.
“We kind of sifted it on net and just had to put a stick on it, and obviously it went through,” Huberdeau said. “Fortunate I got a couple goals tonight, but I’ve got to keep going, keep working. Think our line, we had some chances again tonight. So keep going on that.”
CGY@PHI: Huberdeau tips in his second goal of the game
Konecny scored to make it 2-1 at 14:20 of the third period. Noah Cates won a face-off on the left side of the Calgary zone, and Konecny shot the puck past Wolf low to the far side.
The Flyers continued to push, pulling Kolosov for an extra attacker with 1:47 remaining in the game, but they only had one shot on goal, a chance from the slot by Sean Couturier with 1:10 remaining.
“Just playing on the outside,” Couturier said. “We have guys that are really talented, pretty skilled. But we’ve got to find ways to get to the inside, get to the net. [Defensemen] sometimes have the lanes but there’s no one at the net, everyone’s on the outside trying to make some plays. We’ve got to find a way to get more offense, more second opportunities, more third opportunities, jump on loose pucks. Seems like we’re one and done. I think we have a lot of [offensive] zone possession time but not enough dirty goals. We’ve got to simplify it, go to the net, put pucks there and get two, three guys banging and recovering pucks. When you’re struggling that’s what you have to do, go back to basics.”
NOTES: Huberdeau has 10 points (five goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak against the Flyers. … Wolf started on back-to-back days for the second time this season (Oct. 8-9). He’s the only goalie in the NHL to start on consecutive days this season. … Philadelphia killed off two Calgary power plays and is 18-for-18 on the penalty kill in its past six games. … Trevor Zegras had his four-game point streak ended (eight points; four goals, four assists) and his eight-game home point streak (12 points; four goals, eight assists). … Couturier had one shot on goal in 19:32 of ice time after missing the 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday because of an upper-body injury. … The Flyers played without forward Tyson Foerster, who sustained a lower-body injury blocking a shot during the first period Saturday. He is expected to miss “the next few games,” Tocchet said.
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