CALGARY, Alberta — Anthony Stolarz had never stepped foot in Calgary until this road trip. Now, the Flyers' goaltender can’t wait to get out.
Stolarz put on a third-period penalty-kill clinic before the Flyers collapsed, allowing three goals over the final 1:08 of regulation and the first 35 seconds of overtime for a 6-5 loss Wednesday to the Flames.
Johnny Gaudreau scored the game-winner in OT to complete the Flyers' implosion.
How well did Sean Couturier play in his first game back after missing the previous two and what does former Flyers goaltender Sean Burke think of Stolarz?
Here are my observations from Scotiabank Saddledome:
• The Flyers were playing with fire through the entire third period as they were forced to kill off eight minutes of power-play time. It eventually caught up to them as they gave up two goals in the final 1:08 of regulation before Gaudreau finished them off in OT. A devastating loss to start this Western Canada swing.
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• Initially, I really liked the new-look lines. One big key to the top line is that James van Riemsdyk will have to bring a strong, heavy forecheck, which we saw in the first period.
The second line had good possession time in the opening 10 minutes. The Couturier line with Michael Raffl and Jakub Voracek is a heavy line to handle with the ability to wear down an opponent.
• While Dave Hakstol couldn’t control the matchups, the Couturier line did a much better job against Calgary’s top line of Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm, perhaps the second-best line I’ve seen this season behind the Nathan MacKinnon line in Colorado. Couturier’s line was able to pin them in and make them work in the defensive end, more so than the Claude Giroux line.
• Couturier did an excellent job of accelerating past Monahan and sneaking behind for a beautiful give-and-go play with Voracek. Don’t be surprised if Couturier starts to score goals with Voracek working as more of the distributor on that line.
However, I’d like to see Voracek shoot more. He had a prime scoring chance cutting into the slot but passed up the opportunity.
• Not sure what Robert Hagg was doing on Calgary’s first goal. He was caught in no-man’s land and simply failed to pick up Sam Bennett on the backside. Otherwise, I thought the Flyers played it pretty well and had it covered outside of that one breakdown.
If there’s one repeated flaw I’ve seen in Hagg’s game, it's a failure to read those plays and pick up the assignment when the structure breaks down.
• The Flyers had a solid response after yielding a shorthanded goal to defenseman Mark Giordano, playing his first game after a two-game suspension. Giordano snapped off a good shot that beat Stolarz high to the blocker, but I thought Ivan Provorov cheated a little bit in playing the 2-on-1, giving Giordano too much space.
• Sitting next to Burke — a scout now for the Canadiens — in the press box, he was impressed with the poise and structure to Stolarz’s game. Burke remembers Stolarz during the Memorial Cup Playoffs when he was with the London Knights and thought at that time he was a big kid who was all over the place. Burke and I talked about Stolarz and how well he reads plays. He proved it by robbing Monahan during Calgary’s first power play in the third period.
Then, late in the stanza, things went off the rails.
• Stolarz is quickly becoming one of the Flyers' top penalty killers along with Couturier, who scored his second goal of the game shorthanded. Couturier’s second goal was critical at the time, as the Flyers played some undisciplined third-period hockey. The Flyers have now scored three shorthanded goals in their last five games after zero shorties in their first 24 games.
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