Matvei Michkov’s first NHL point, Ivan Fedotov’s roller-coaster start, and more takeaways from Flyers-Flames

CALGARY, Alberta ― The Flyers’ four-game road trip to start the season stopped in Calgary on the second night of a back-to-back. After Friday night’s come-from-behind 3-2 shootout win against the Vancouver Canucks, the Flyers were handed a 6-3 loss by the Flames.

There were good moments, like 19 shots on goal in the first period, and bad, like none of those shots finding the back of the net. The Flyers had good energy throughout, but sometimes they struggled with defensive zone coverage. Less than eight minutes into the game the guys in orange and black found themselves down by two, but they chipped away making it 2-1, 3-2, and 5-3 before losing by three.

Here are four things to know about the Flyers' loss …

Welcome to the National Hockey League, Matvei Michkov. One day after his debut, the Flyers budding star notched his first career point.

While he had a quieter game than Friday night, the rookie set up Travis Konecny for a power-play marker in the third period. The budding star likes to plant himself along the goal line on the man advantage, and after receiving a pass from Morgan Frost, he made a touch pass to Konency in the slot for the goal.

» READ MORE: Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov is the latest Philly sports savior. Can he match the hype?

He had a few pass attempts across the game that didn’t connect and had a big giveaway in the third period when it was a one-goal game. That play led to a two-on-on the other way and a shot on goal by Blake Coleman

Michkov played 18 minutes, 36 seconds, and had one assist, four shot attempts — two shots blocked and two that missed the net — and a plus-minus of minus-2. The one positive, according to Natural Stat Trick, is when he was on the ice the Flyers had 27 shot attempts to just 20 for the Flames.

Ivan Fedotov made his first start of the season for the Flyers and it was a bit of an up-and-down affair. The 6-foot-7 goalie made some ridiculous saves, including one off the face mask in the third period, but allowed five goals on 31 shots.

The first goal was a fluke, as Rasmus Ristolainen deflected the puck up and off Jonathan Huberdeau. MacKenzie Weegar doubled it up with a power-play goal during a four-on-three from the point that Fedotov should have seen the whole way.

“You’re two goals behind right away, it’s kind of tough,“ Joel Farabee said. ”But honestly, I really liked our game. I think, start of the third period, they had [16] shots or something. We had a lot of chances that we didn’t bury, myself included. Yeah, definitely [stinks] getting out behind early. I think there’s some things to like, but definitely some things to clean up, too.”

» READ MORE: Start of Flyers-Flames kicked off with this warm tribute to South Jersey native Johnny Gaudreau

Fedotov allowed two goals on nine shots in the opening frame and one goal on seven shots in the second period, and they faced 15 shots in the third, allowing two more. The third goal, scored by Nazem Kadri during a five-on-three, and the fifth goal, another by Huberdeau, were each a quick strike from passes below or at the goal line. The goal that made it 4-2 was Mikael Backlund scoring on a two-on-one.

Fedotov doesn’t always look comfortable in net. But it is early for the Russian, who still left those watching wondering how he kept the puck out several times. According to Natural Stat Trick, he stopped 11 of 13 high-danger chances and saved all seven low-danger chances he faced.

“I’ve got to watch the game,” coach John Tortorella said. “I thought he made some good saves at certain times. I’m not sure what the chances were, but for his first game, I thought he played well."

Stop if you’ve heard this before: Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton connected on a shorthanded goal.

The first shorthanded tally of the season was started by a clearing/outlet pass from Erik Johnson to Konecny. He then skated in with Laughton and finished on the give-and-go.

Konecny’s reaction said it all. The forward led the NHL in shorthanded goals last season, scoring six times. Laughton had two of his own goals and eight shorthanded points.

“I still think there’s more to get there with him and a number of other guys just completely offensively," Tortorella said. “But yeah, we’re two games in [and] just keep working at it.”

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If you’re going to drop the gloves for the first time in your career, it’s not a bad thing for it to come in the defense of a teammate. Tyson Foerster watched Jamie Drysdale get smoked in the neutral zone and jumped to his defense.

The Flyers defenseman was looking to bat down the puck with his glove and got crushed by Flames forward Martin Pospisil. Drysdale has a history of shoulder problems, including missing almost a month last season when he got trucked by then-Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jansen Harkins. It was the same shoulder in which he suffered a torn labrum in October 2022 that cost him the rest of the season.

Foerster then skated right over to Pospisil and threw his gloves off. He earned five minutes for fighting along with a two-minute minor and a 10-minute misconduct for initiating the fight.

“Just saw the puck go in the air, tried to make a play on it. Didn’t really have much of a play, so had to eat one,“ Drysdale said. ”From my interpretation, he pretty much auto-shed him, which is always nice to help a teammate. You always appreciate when someone stands up for you like that."

The loss of Foerster did hurt the Flyers forward group.

“With Tyson, it’s the right thing to do, but it takes a really good player out for 17 minutes. Those are the fine lines, but it’s their call," Tortorella said. “They know how to protect one another.”

Farabee also went after Blake Coleman when he hit Drysdale early in the third period. The Flyers forward, who also scored a goal at the left post off a great seeing-eye pass from Bobby Brink, dropped his gloves, but Coleman skated to the bench.

“We’re not going to get pushed around. I think that’s kind of what being a Flyer is all about," Farabee said. “You look at just the heritage of all the guys that have been Flyers previous and that’s kind of how we have to play. We’re a young team, but we’re not going to get pushed around. So I was a little disappointed that Coleman didn’t fight me. He told me to drop my gloves, I did and then he changed. I’ve never seen that in my career, but guess you just move on.”

Emil Andrae joined the team in Alberta but did not play. … Jett Luchanko was a healthy scratch, along with Nick Deslauriers. … The Flames honored the memory of Johnny Gaudreau before the game by playing 13 of his most memorable goals with the club. They were joined on the ice by the Flyers. … Frost got laid out by Weegar in the second period and missed around eight minutes. He went to the room but came back out and tested things during a TV timeout.

The Flyers stay in Calgary for practice on Monday before heading north to Edmonton for a Tuesday matchup with Connor McDavid and the Oilers (10 p.m., ESPN).