The Philadelphia Flyers dropped their first game of the 2024-25 season, suffering a disappointing 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames in the second of four games on their West Coast road trip.
Ivan Fedotov got his first start of the season in net, Travis Konecny and Joel Farabee both got their first goals of the season (Konecny scored two), and Matvei Michkov got his first NHL point, but the Flyers were plagued with issues throughout the night, making this a game they’ll want to forget heading to Edmonton on Tuesday.
Foerster And Frost Looking Good
Tyson Foerster and Morgan Frost were two standout players tonight, for good and bad reasons.
Both forwards looked supremely confident against the Flames, playing with a little extra pop and fizz as they attacked the net, showcasing just how much work they put into elevating their game over the summer. It was a welcome sight, considering both players were pegged as needing big seasons—Foerster to continue the offensive form that had him in Calder discussions last year, and Frost to prove to his detractors that he can be a consistently good player.
However, Frost briefly exited the game after a hard collision against the boards (he later returned, but it was clear he was still feeling discomfort when he skated).
Foerster, on the other hand, served a whopping 17-minute penalty after dropping the gloves to defend Jamie Drysdale after a bone-rattling open ice hit.
Injuries and penalties aside, it was a promising performance from both forwards, lending hope that they can hopefully be consistent with the talent and skill the Flyers know they have in them.
Be A Goldfish
Ivan Fedotov will certainly want to put this game behind him as he continues adjusting to the NHL.
While he made a number of crucial saves to keep the Flames’ lead from growing even larger, he couldn’t stop the barrage of offense that the home team kept inflicting on the Flyers. While some of those goals weren’t entirely Fedotov’s fault, this game did show that he’s still extremely inexperienced in this league (this is only the fourth NHL game he’s ever played), and that it will require time and patience this season to see the Russian goalie get his feet fully under him.
Megan DeRuchie-The Hockey News
Given the history of Flyers goaltending tandems, it’s easy to panic, but right now, the organization doesn’t have a whole lot of depth when it comes to netminders. Criticism is understandable and warranted for how he looked tonight, but judging whether or not Fedotov deserves to be an NHL goalie based on such a small sample size simply isn’t productive.
Old Habits Die Hard
A very familiar (and very frustrating) problem creeped into the Flyers’ offense against the Flames—they had numerous prime opportunities to score, but they just couldn’t get the finish.
It was a persistent issue last year, and one that many thought would be fixed with the arrival of Michkov, but even though the chances were plentiful (40 shots on goal), the scoreboard didn’t reflect it.
Once they get more settled into their lines and find out who works best with who, there definitely won’t be any shortage of goals. But tonight, it was irritating to have the opportunities they did without capitalizing, and one can imagine it’s something that they’ll be working on extra hard in future practices.
Bonus: Matvei Michkov’s First NHL Point!
Fans were getting antsy after it took two whole games for Michkov to get on an NHL scoresheet, but his assist on Travis Konecny’s powerplay goal lets him check off another milestone.
The Flyers will get a bit of a rest period before heading to Edmonton to take on the Oilers on Oct. 15.
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