The Flyers tacked another game onto their win streak on Saturday afternoon after defeating the Calgary Flames in a 2-1 effort. Brayden Schenn and Claude Giroux scored for the Flyers, while Matt Stajan got Calgary’s lone goal. Philadelphia’s Ray Emery came up big in net, making 32 of 33 saves. Reto Berra stopped 21 of the Flyers’ 23 shots.
A quiet first period where both teams appeared a bit sloppy with the puck (a few whiffs, a few bad passes) gave way to a not-so-pretty second for the Flyers. Despite their sleepy play, they managed to score on one of Schenn’s many chances of the afternoon, a goal assisted by Wayne Simmonds and Andrej Meszaros. Calgary got 11 shots in on Ray Emery in the middle period, but as in the first, Emery came up big and held on to the one-goal lead for the team. Both the Flyers and the Flames took two penalties apiece, but neither team was able to capitalize on the man advantage and Philadelphia closed out the period with the lead. The Flames led in shots, 11-4.
Giroux’s goal at 4:04 of the second period gave the Flyers some insurance. It looked as if it deflected off of Scott Hartnell before reaching the net, but credit was given to Giroux. That makes 20 for the team captain on the season.
As the game drew to a close, it looked as if the Flyers had this one in the bag. Calgary finally answered to Schenn’s and Giroux’s goals with Stajan’s, effectively ruining Emery’s shutout bid with just about two and a half minutes left in the game. Even without the shutout, Emery played a quietly impressive game, making some great saves and keeping his team in it, especially in that sloppy second period.
In what was thought of to be a pivotal seven-game stretch for the Flyers, they came away with a 5-2 record and now begin the Olympic break on a high note. Five Flyers will be representing their home countries in Sochi over the next two weeks: Michael Raffl (Austria), Kimmo Timonen (Finland), Jakub Voracek (Czech Republic), Mark Streit (Switzerland), and Andrej Meszaros (Slovakia).
Penalty summary:
Kris Russell — holding (5:06, 2nd)
Nick Grossmann — hooking (10:06, 2nd)
Brian McGrattan — unsportsmanlike conduct (18:11, 2nd)
Zac Rinaldo — unsportsmanlike conduct (18:11, 2nd)
Mikael Backlund — hooking (10:23, 3rd)
Braydon Coburn — delay of game (12:17, 3rd)
Notes: Claude Giroux is on a four-game point streak, the longest of his career… Andrej Meszaros had his fourth multi-point game of the season… Nicklas Grossmann did not play in the third period… Flyers return to action Thursday, February 27th against the San Jose Sharks.
