PHILADELPHIA — Jonathan Huberdeau hit for a double on Sunday to lead the Calgary Flames to a 2-1 win over the Flyers.
The win snapped a two-game slide for the Flames.
Dustin Wolf made 17 saves in the win.
“It was great work ethic tonight,” Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. “I thought the guys were committed to playing the right way. That’s our standard here. That’s Flames hockey. … I just thought it was an overall great game from everybody, from top to bottom.”
The Flyers managed just 18 shots on goal for the second straight game, both losses.
“You’ve got to keep pounding it, and we’ve got to find people who want to continue to do it,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said. “We’ll find them. But it’s my job to get these guys to do it.
“It’s hard to win in this league. You want to play in April and May, you’ve got to play hard hockey. I think we’re finding easy ice. A lot of guys, even some of our best players, they want to play the easy ice and not the hard ice.”
After a scoreless first period, Huberdeau potted his first of the game in the middle frame to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
“It’s a little chaotic when plays are hopping like that,” Weegar said. “I think that gets me into the game. That’s part of my game, part of the leadership that we talk about here, is blocking shots at the right time, putting your body on the line for the group. It was fun. I enjoy that kind of stuff.”
Huberdeau picked up his double in the eighth minute of the third period for a 2-0 advantage to Calgary.
“We kind of sifted it on net and just had to put a stick on it, and obviously it went through,” Huberdeau said. “Fortunate I got a couple goals tonight, but I’ve got to keep going, keep working. Think our line, we had some chances again tonight. So keep going on that.”
Travis Konecny trimmed the deficit to 2-1 at 14:20 of the third but that was all the Flyers could muster.
Aleksei Kolosov,made 19 saves in the loss.
“Just playing on the outside,” the Flyers Sean Couturier said. “We have guys that are really talented, pretty skilled. But we’ve got to find ways to get to the inside, get to the net. [Defensemen] sometimes have the lanes but there’s no one at the net, everyone’s on the outside trying to make some plays. We’ve got to find a way to get more offense, more second opportunities, more third opportunities, jump on loose pucks. Seems like we’re one and done. I think we have a lot of [offensive] zone possession time but not enough dirty goals. We’ve got to simplify it, go to the net, put pucks there and get two, three guys banging and recovering pucks. When you’re struggling that’s what you have to do, go back to basics.”
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