Looking to build upon a five-game point streak, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (27-26-8) return home on Tuesday to take on Ryan Huska's Calgary Flames (28-23-9). Game time at Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EST.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 93.3 WMMR with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second and final meeting of the 2024-25 season series between the Flyers and Flames. On October 12 in Calgary (the Flyers' second game of the regular season), the Flames skated away with a 6-3 win.
The Flyers enter this game coming off an excellent performance in a 2-1 (1-0) shootout road win in Winnipeg on Saturday. Defenseman Jamie Drysdale scored in regulation while Matvei Michkov netted the winning goal in the bottom of the second round during the shootout.
Here are the RAV4 Things to watch in Tuesday's tilt plus an x-factor in the game.
1. Jan. 30 Flyers-Flames trade
Tuesday's game marks the Philadelphia returns of former Flyers forwards Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost, as well the first game former Flames first-round pick Jakob Pelletier and winger Andrei Kuzmenko will play against their former Calgary teammates. The four players swapped clubs in the late night hours of January 30.
Kuzmenko has recorded three points (one power play goal, one even strength assist, one power play assist) in five games with the Flyers to date. He had a would-be goal disallowed in Pittsburgh for what was ruled as playing the puck into the net with a high stick. Overall, Kuzmenko has generated 11 shots on goal for Philly and averaged 16:51 of ice time.
Kuzmenko, incidentally, enjoyed a three-assist game against the Flyers when the two teams played against each other in Calgary early this season. In the same game, Farabee notched a goal and Frost had a power play assist.
Pelletier has dressed in four games for the Flyers so far, seeing mostly fourth-line duty (10:11 of average ice time). He recorded an assist on a nice entry in the 6-1 home blowout win over Pittsburgh last Tuesday. He's recorded six shots on goal and shown hints of the hustle and hunger for the puck he displayed in 24 games for the Flames prior to the trade.
Frost played well overall for the Flames during his first six games with his new team including a pair of nice goals. However, the current road trip has been as much of a struggle for Frost to create offense as it has for nearly the entire team. His last point was a primary assist on a Nazem Kadri power play goal in the first period against San Jose on Feb. 23.
Farabee played into some tough puck luck over his first five games with the Flames. He frequently buzzed around the net, but had one one goal to show for it. Farabee lost a would-be goal to a questionable goalie interference penalty on Kadri in the same game in which Farabee later scored one that counted. Lately, though, as with Frost and the entire club, Farabee has not had many scoring chances as the current road trip has progressed.
Farabee started out on a line with Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau. He was later moved to a trio with Frost and Yegor Sharangovich. On Sunday, he played Mikael Backlund's line after seeing fourth-line usage over the latter half of the game in Tampa Bay.
Farabee took a puck off his hand in the first period of Sunday's game and did not reappear in the game until the second stanza. He later had a breakaway opportunity but was unable to convert it against Pyotr Kochetkov. A few shifts later, Frost had a partial breakaway but was pokechecked by the goalie. Frost was also part of an overtime 2-on-1 chance shortly before the Hurricanes scored at the other end of ice.
2. Fatigue factor favors Flyers
On paper at least, the Flyers could have fresher skating legs than the Flames on Tuesday night. The Flyers have not been especially busy since the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament break. The Flames, meanwhile, are in the midst of one of the most compacted portions of their season schedule.
There haven't been any games on back-to-back nights for Philly, and there has only been one road game (in Winnipeg) with significant travel involved. Tuesday's game marks the start of a season-high seven-game homestand.
On the flip side, Calgary is playing the fifth match of a six-game road trip that has taken them from Washington to Sunrise Fl. and Tampa so far. From there, the team traveled to Raleigh. After playing the Flyers -- the Flames' fifth game in eight nights (and third game in four nights) -- the Flames will wrap up the trip in Dallas on Thursday.
The Flyers' on-paper advantage heading into Tuesday won't mean anything if Tortorella's club doesn't go out and play the right way. The Flames, like the Flyers, have shown themselves to be a resilient team.
For example, on Sunday in Carolina, the Flames were outshot in the first period by a 12-1 margin. Only the outstanding goaltending of Dustin Wolf kept the game scoreless heading into the second period; From there, however, the game turned into a very competitive game. The Flames adjusted and were able to chip the puck in past the defense and get retrievals. Ultimately, however, the Hurricanes won in overtime, 2-1.
3. Puck pressure and structure
Calgary is not a particularly fast team. In fact, they are one of the NHL's more methodical teams when it comes to playing with pace. Over the last three games in particular, the Flames have had long stretches where they lost foot races and board battles with regularity. They were hemmed in their own zone for nearly the entire first period by the Hurricanes.
These are areas the Flyers can take advantage of if they play with sound structure against Calgary in similar fashion to their recent wins against Edmonton, Pittsburgh and Winnipeg. The Flyers were tenacious in their puck pressure in all three games and were able to generate some chances in transition as well.
It's when the Flames play as connected five-man units and keep their feet moving that they can be a real handful for opponents. At the start of the current Calgary road trip, the Washington Capitals learned this lesson the hard way. The Flames bottled up the Caps and outworked them on the way to a 3-1 win.
Since then, goals and chances in general have been scarce for Huska's team. The Flyers went through a spell in late January to the start of February in which the team endured three consecutive shutout losses. Right now, Calgary is in a similar drought. They were shut out by the Panthers and Lightning. On Sunday, Kadri's power play goal at 7:06 of the third period stood as Calgary's only goal over their last three games.
4. Special teams
Over the Flyers last 15 games, the team has killed penalties successfully at an 86.7 percent clip. Only the Panthers (87.2 percent) have a better PK percentage dating back to January 17. Presently, the Flyers bring an active 13-for-13 run on the PK over their last seven games.
For the season on the whole, the Flyers are 17th in the NHL on the PK at 79.3 percent. The Flyers' power play enters Tuesday's game ranked 28th at 16.3 percent.
Calgary's power play ranks 19th in the NHL at 19.1 percent including a 22.2 percent mark (8-for-36) since the start of February. Frost has been centering Calgary's first unit at 5-on-4, playing with Kadri, Huberdeau, Matt Coronato, and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar. Frost takes left circle faceoffs and is the primary puck carrier on entry attempts.
The penalty kill has been a struggle for the Flames much of the season (ranked 27th at 73.9 percent). There have been some recent hopeful signs, however, Calgary is 15-for-19 (81.8 percent) over the last 10 games. Farabee has seen periodic PK duty on the second or third rotation (33 seconds per game average).
X-factor: Between the pipes
Ivan Fedotov in coming off objectively his best game to date in the NHL, turning back 29 of 30 shots through 65 minutes and then going 3-for-3 in the shootout. Primary starter Samuel Ersson had been on a roll from the Christmas break through the first four periods of the home-and-home set against Pittsburgh, but ended up with a rough stat line for the return match in Pittsburgh.
Calgary goalie Dustin Wolf has been the NHL's top rookie netminder this season (20-12-4, 2.58 GAA, .913 save percentage, two shutouts, three assists). Backup Dan Vladar (8-11-5, 2.98 GAA, .894 SV%, two shutouts) has had an uneven season but has been nothing short of excellent in each of his last three starting assignments over the past month.
