It was a night to remember for Anthony Stolarz.
“To win your first start is huge and gets you to feel more comfortable,” the Flyers' 22-year-old netminder said after a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Flames at Wells Fargo Center (see Instant Replay).
“My pro debut in the American League, I don’t think I won in my first five games. You press a bit and it’s in the back of your head, ‘When you gonna win one? When you gonna win one?’ So to win this game, it’s huge for my confidence.”
Stolarz became the first New Jersey-born (Edison) goalie to play in the NHL. He had 29 saves while the Flyers skated start to finish and kept their foot on the offensive peddle, something they have not done very often this season.
“That’s the way we ought to play,” said Wayne Simmonds, who had a two-point game. “We’ve had some games where we let off in the third period and it came back to bite us in the butt. We had a good lead and we wanted to keep the pressure up. We did a good job.”
Stolarz didn’t face a shot until 5:46 into the game when he made a glove save on Alex Chaisson off the rush. Alas, two minutes later, Stolarz whiffed on T.J. Brodie’s backhander during a 2-on-1 rush that gave the Flames a 1-0 lead.
That goal was shorthanded. The Flyers gave up two shorties in this game. Those six shorties are the most in the NHL. Ironically, all of the Flames goals were on special teams, including a power-play goal.
But Stolarz, who grew up in Jackson, New Jersey, shut the Flames down at even strength. He did a decent job tracking pucks through traffic.
“He worked his way in, he settled in,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “There were some real good saves.
“It can be tough when the first one goes in but if there is one thing I like, I liked his poise, his presence, his focus just to worry about the next save. And that’s exactly what he did all night long.”
If you had to pick where he found a point to get comfortable, it came midway into the first period, trailing 1-0, when he had a sequence of saves on Dougie Hamilton, Deryk Engelland and Michael Frolik.
“Getting a little flurry like that, you get into it,” Stolarz said. “The biggest thing I thought was the traffic in front.
“Lot different than the American League. Guys are a lot bigger and plays happen a lot faster. Once I was able to fight through that, makes some saves, I got on a roll.”
What assisted was the play from Brayden Schenn’s new unit with Chris VandeVelde and Roman Lyubimov. They accounted for a goal in the second period as the Flyers opened up a 4-1 lead on a team with tired skating legs playing its fifth game in eight days.
That new-look line also had a goal in the final period for the Flyers as Lyubimov batted a puck home out of mid-air on a rebound.
“That line kinda epitomized our game tonight,” Hakstol said. “I thought they played great all night. Their five-on-five play was straight-lined, hard nosed.
“Brayden Schenn as a centerman was 64 percent on faceoffs. He doesn’t come out of it with a point, but his linemates come out with a goal and an assist. A lot of contributions from that line.”
Lyubimov had sat seven straight games as a healthy scratch before Sunday. He centered a puck off the wall so violently, it ricocheted off VandeVelde’s skate into the net at 7:20 of the second period. That goal gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead.
“It was a good dump,” VandeVelde said. “Luby got the puck there on the wall and made a smart decision on throwing it toward the net and I was able to get a [skate] on it and beat the goalie.”
Twenty-four seconds after that goal, Nick Cousins split the Flames defense with a breakaway pass to Simmonds, who went to his backhand to blow the game open at 4-1.
Simmonds, who has five markers this month, leads the team with 11 goals and is tied for 6th most in the league in that category. No other Flyer has reached double digits in goals yet.
“Everybody contributed,” Jakub Voracek said. “You put games like that together and it’s very positive. That’s why we scored five goals.”
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