Flames Silence Flyers in Shutout Loss

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

On a recent East-coast road trip, the Calgary Flames flat-out dominated, winning all five games and never trailing in the process. They returned home and continued their recent dominance of the Metropolitan Division. 

The Flames out-shot the Flyers, 36-20, as the three-game road trip came to an end with a 4-0 defeat for the Flyers on Saturday night in Calgary.

Both teams had power-play chances in the first period, but shots were few and far between until the closing moments of the period. The Flames made a push, doubling their shot total in less than two minutes, but the game remained scoreless through 20 minutes. Shots were 8-4 Calgary.

Calgary kept the push on to start the second period and flat-out dominated from the start. They had the first 13 shots of the period and finally took the lead on their third power play of the game. Rasmus Andersson was able to center a pass to Sean Monahan for a tip-in goal, his first of the season, to get the Flames on the board.

The Flyers did get a power play and finally managed some shots on goal, but Jacob Markstrom stood tall and kept the Flames in front. The Flyers killed off another late power play for the Flames to close the period. Through 40 minutes, shots were 24-9 Calgary.

The Flames kept the pressure on in the third, continuing to generate chances. They got a power play just shy of eight minutes into the period with a chance to add insurance and made the most of it.

Matthew Tkachuk finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play to make it a 2-0 Flames lead at 8:30.

The Flyers had a power play with 8:20 remaining in the period, but could not take advantage. They were stymied for most of the night offensively, as Markstrom took care of all 20 shots faced.

Mikael Backlund iced the game with an empty-net goal with 3:49 to play. Johnny Gaudreau also added a goal with 1:59 to play to cap the scoring.

Carter Hart was solid at his end, facing 35 shots and making 32 saves despite the loss. It was Hart's 100th career start.

Monahan, Andersson, and Elias Lindholm each had two points in the win.

The Flyers now return home and will face the winless Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• No Scoring

2nd Period

• CGY Sean Monahan (1) PP (Rasmus Andersson, Elias Lindholm) 9:07

3rd Period

• CGY Matthew Tkachuk (3) PP (Lindholm) 8:30
• CGY Mikael Backlund (2) EN (Tyler Pitlick, Andersson) 16:11
• CGY Johnny Gaudreau (2) (Chris Tanev) 18:01

Game Statistics