Calgary Flames 4 vs Philadelphia Flyers 0

Preview

Goals Summary

First Period

• No Scoring

Second Period

• CGY - Monahan (1) (Andersson, Lindholm) 9:07 PPG

Third Period

• CGY - Tkachuk (3) (Lindholm, Monahan) 8:30 PPG
• CGY - Backlund (2) (Pitlick, Andersson) 16:11 EN
• CGY - Gaudreau (2) (Tanev, Kylington) 18:01

Shots Summary

Recap

The Calgary Flames were scorching hot entering Saturday night’s game with the Philadelphia Flyers as they were coming off a perfect five game road trip. Calgary entered the game sitting 5-1-1, with their most recent victory being a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Their opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers entered the game looking to sweep their Western Canadian road trip after wins in Vancouver and Edmonton.

The Flames went with the red-hot Jacob Markstrom in net while the Flyers countered with Carter Hart.

There isn’t a ton to say about the first half of the game itself other than the Flames were in complete control right from the opening puck drop as they peppered Hart with chances while giving up very little in their own end. This must have come as a breath of fresh air for Markstrom who faced 45 shots on Thursday, but had faced just nine through the first two periods tonight.

After pelting Carter Hart with shots, the Flames finally broke through midway through the second period while on the powerplay. It was Sean Monahan who finally got the goal scoring monkey off his back by redirecting a fantastic pass from Rasmus Andersson in front of Hart. It really was the quintessential Monahan goal and it was crucial in breaking the goalless tie.

Entering the third period the Flames looked to cement their sixth straight win and they did just that as they locked down the Flyers again, limiting their chances and shots in general. The big thing for Calgary was finding that insurance goal because as we saw against Anaheim a few weeks ago, a one goal is never safe.

Calgary got that insurance goal with their second powerplay marker of the game with an absolutely gorgeous passing play between Monahan, Elias Lindholm, and Matthew Tkachuk who finished the play after a perfect cross-crease pass from Lindholm which had Hart swimming in his net.

From there the Flames focused on shutting things down and the Flyers pushed hard which included pulling their goalie very early with about five minutes to go. Calgary made them pay with a nice play by Blake Coleman to get the puck out of the zone before Tyler Pitlick and Mikael Backlund combined for Backlund to score the goal which made it 3-0. The goal was the 401st point of Backlund’s career as he hit the 400 point milestone last game in Pittsburgh.

Johnny Gaudreau added a late goal for the Flames as well with a nice little play to snipe on Hart to make it 4-0. Keep lighting the lamp Johnny Hockey!

That would be a wrap on the night as the Flames grabbed their sixth victory in a row and the Saddledome was rocking. This is perhaps the most impressive stretch of hockey and definitely the most impressive start we’ve seen in a very long time.

Final Thoughts

• I’ve got to start with Markstrom who recorded his THIRD SHUTOUT IN FOUR GAMES!!! This is a big deal for Markstrom who often struggled to get the goose eggs in Vancouver. This shutout ties his career high of three which he set last year, and is his sixth in 50 games with Calgary. He had just five in 227 games in Vancouver.
• Sean Monahan looked especially good despite being a center for criticism for Flames fans lately. In his mainly bottom six role at even strength he was strong, but he really had his chances come on the powerplay tonight, helping set up the Tkachuk goal and grabbing one of his own
• The Kylington-Tanev defence pairing was great yet again as they put up high xGF numbers and did a great job of shutting down the Flyers when being tasked with defensive zone starts
• Matthew Tkachuk had a strong game with a team high seven shots on net and got involved in a scrum after a clean but semi-questionable hit from Ivan Provorov in the third period. He drew at least two penalties as well tonight, just a solid performance for him.
• The Mangiapane-Dube-Ritchie line did a good job driving play tonight despite not being rewarded with any points
• This team is simply unbelievable right now. During this win streak they have outscored opponents 25-7 and have led by at least three goals at some point in all six of the games.

Flame of the Game

Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images

Sean Monahan (F): This was a very good performance for Monahan after a lackluster start to the season. Obviously he is still rehabbing from his hip injury so we have to reserve some judgement until later in the season. If he can get comfortable again and do what he does best (score goals in front) he will be a perfect complement with the rest of the core playing as well as they are. He has three points in the last two games.

The Calgary Flames are next in action on Tuesday night when they welcome the Nashville Predators to town and go for their seventh win in a row!