Flyers Fall in Calgary, 4-0
Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers did not have their skating legs going on Saturday as they ended their western Canada road trip on Saturday with a 4-0 shutout loss to the Calgary Flames. The Flyers were outshot, 36-20, and scarcely tested goalie Jakob Markström for much of the game.
Carter Hart, by far, was the best player on the ice for the Flyers and deserved a better fate. He gave his team a chance to at least come away with one point or even win the game if they could dig deep for a big push in the third period. It didn't happen.
With the game scoreless near the midpoint of regulation, Sean Monahan broke the deadlock on a tip-in power play goal. The score held at 1-0 until a Matthew Tkachuk power play goal at 8:30 of the third period. The tally was the completion of a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with Monahan and Elias Lindholm.
Mikael Backlund then added an empty net goal at 16:11 to open a three-goal cushion. The Flyers basically played out the string the rest of the way and Hart paid for it. Johnny Gaudreau took advantage of all the time and space he was given on a counterattacking rush. Beating Nick Seeler one-on-one, Gaudreau cut inside to the left hash marks and snapped a shot past Hart to make it a final four-goal margin for Calgary.
For more on Saturday's clunker in Calgary, see the
Postgame 5 on the Flyers' official website.
The Flyers (4-2-1) will return home to Philadelphia on Sunday and practice in Voorhees the next morning. On Tuesday, they will host the winless Arizona Coyotes (0-7-1) at the Wells Fargo Center.
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Phantoms Lose in OT, 3-2
Ian Laperriere's Lehigh Valley Phantoms remain winless (0-5-2) on the 2021-22 season after dropping a 3-2 overtime decision to the Syracuse Crunch at the PPL Center in Allentown on Saturday evening. The Phantoms still have yet to score more than two goals in any game to date this season and are 2-for-32 on the power play so far (although the first Phantoms goal was scored one second after the expiration of a power play).
The bright side for the Phantoms: Morgan Frost's line buzzed in the offensive zone with some frequency during regulation and accounted for both Lehigh Valley goals. Gerry Mayhew (3rd goal of the season) got Lehigh Valley on the board early in the first period, scoring in a scramble around the net. The assists went to Garrett Wilson and Frost. At 5:09 of the second period, Frost worked himself into the slot and fired home a shot past Amir Miftakhov for a 2-1 Phantoms lead.
Additionally, Felix Sandström had another strong overall outing for the Phantoms in goal. He's played well enough to win most of his starts so far but has been victimized by ill-timed breakdowns.
The bad news: The Phantoms were unable to hold or build on 1-0 and 2-1 leads, getting somewhat outplayed overall in the final 21 minutes. As a result, Lehigh Valley came away with one point instead of two. Syracuse went 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Phantoms were 0-for-2.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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