The Calgary Flames scored four times in the first period, including two goals from Connor Zary, on their way to a 6-3 road victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
This was the first meeting between the Flames and Flyers since the teams combined on a four-player trade on Jan. 31. Morgan Frost, who came over from Philadelphia in the deal, had two assists Tuesday, while former Calgary sniper Andrei Kuzmenko registered a goal and an assist in a losing effort.
Jonathan Huberdeau collected two assists, while Dustin Wolf made 26 saves to help the Flames snap a three-game skid.
Samuel Ersson allowed three goals on five shots for the Flyers before giving way to Ivan Fedotov, who turned aside 25 of the 27 shots he faced.
Zary had not scored in his last seven games, dating back to his most recent goal on Jan. 2. However, he opened the scoring in this one with a deflection in front of the net 7:40 into the game.
Nazem Kadri made it 2-0 just 33 seconds later on a play that began when he skated right past Owen Tippett in the neutral zone, creating a 2-on-1 rush. Kadri opted to shoot the puck and snapped a wrister past Ersson, who barely reacted on the play.
Zary tallied again less than 90 seconds later. He picked up a loose puck in the high slot and skated through the left circle, near the goal line. From a sharp angle, he snapped the puck over Ersson’s shoulder, prompting Philadelphia coach John Tortorella to bench his goaltender.
The move provided an immediate spark as the Flyers’ Noah Cates scored on a wrister just 22 seconds later. Kuzmenko tallied about seven minutes later, unleashing a wicked wrist shot of his own to make it 3-2.
However, Yegor Sharangovich countered just 18 seconds later by scoring on a rebound to send Calgary into the intermission with a two-goal lead.
MacKenzie Weegar’s power-play goal late in the second period extended the Flames’ lead to 5-2.
Sean Couturier’s goal with 9:17 to play in the third made things slightly interesting before Calgary’s Matt Coronato buried an empty-netter with a minute remaining.
–Field Level Media
