Despite a 5-2 loss to the struggling Dallas Stars on Saturday, the Philadelphia Flyers will return home with some momentum.
Kevin Hayes earned an assist in his first action since offseason abdominal surgery and Ryan Ellis picked up an assist after a nine-game absence with a lower-body injury.
Both key players will have had a couple of extra days to recover by the time the Flyers open a three-game homestand Tuesday night against the Calgary Flames.
“I thought he had good energy in that first period. Better energy in the third,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said of Hayes. “First game, you’ve got to think that it’s a step in the right direction and (they’re) gonna get better.”
It will take awhile before both players are performing at full speed, but this was a start to help a team with aspirations of a deep playoff run.
“The speed was a little fast,” Hayes said. “Haven’t played a game for months.”
Calgary shut out the Flyers 4-0 in the teams’ most recent meeting on Oct. 30. Aside from the loss to the Stars, that was arguably the only other flat effort the Flyers have produced thus far.
“If we capitalized (early), our energy level goes up, our confidence goes up,” Vigneault said. “So it’s unfortunate. But that’s the way hockey is sometimes.”
Goaltender Carter Hart was stellar with 39 saves in a 2-1 win at the Carolina Hurricanes last Friday. Martin Jones stopped 26 shots and suffered his first loss in four starts against the Stars.
The Flames have dropped three of four heading into this matchup at Philadelphia. But the Flames played their best game in awhile with a 4-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
“I thought everybody played solid in general,” said Matthew Tkachuk, who scored one goal. “It was one of those momentum-type games for this road trip. The way the first two went, we had to get this one. That middle-ish game, we really needed to get the win to help propel us on the rest of this trip — to give us some life and not be playing catch-up the rest of this trip.”
The Flames are in the midst of a difficult portion of their schedule, and the challenges continue against the much-improved Flyers.
“I thought it was really hard for our team. It’s four (games) in six days, you know?” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “It’s a tough schedule right now, and I said it the last time, when we were in that real tough part of it, your toughest opponent is that. So, how did we play? We were physically engaged in it. Those two games, Montreal and Toronto, they’re hard games. They take a lot out of your team, besides the travel. They’re hard games to play.
“So this was a real gut-check for our team and they did a really good job. Mentally, they were probably not as sharp as they needed to be, but physically, they were really good,” Sutter added.
This will be Calgary’s fourth stop on its seven-game trip.
–Field Level Media
