The Flyers had some chances, hit some posts and crossbars, and had a goal called back. But overall, the Flyers weren’t the better team on this night, losing 5-1 to Calgary to conclude the calendar year.
The Basics
First period: 13:30- Mikael Backlund (Matt Cornato, Blake Coleman)
Second period: 3:08- Jonathan Huberdeau (Mackenzie Weegar, Yan Kuznetsov), 8:49- Travis Konecny (Unassisted), 12:03- Rasmus Andersson (Connor Zary, Nazem Kadri) (PPG), 17:52- Yegor Sharangovich (Matt Coronato, Mackenzie Weegar) (PPG)
Third period: 9:37- Connor Zary (Ryan Lomberg)
SOG: 26 (PHI) – 24 (CAL)
Some Takeaways
Taking both of a back to back? Nope
The Flames were riding high the last little while with a 9-1-1 record at home. Toss in the fact the Flyers were on the latter half of a back-to-back and Philadelphia might have entered the game at a disadvantage. But give the Flyers credit, at least initially. They didn’t start the game half asleep, nor did they try to run and gun with Calgary. Instead they played a rather simplified game, keeping the puck ahead of them and winning the puck battles more often than not.
In the second period, the Flyers continued doing more of the same, and not getting away from their structure all that often. Even down a pair, Philadelphia kept chipping away, eventually cutting Calgary’s lead in half midway through regulation. But the Flyers ran into penalty trouble shortly thereafter. A tripping call on Cam York was followed up six seconds later by another tripping minor on Christian Dvorak. The nearly full two minutes of five-on-three saw Philadelphia eventually give up one as Rasmus Andersson (who had a Flyers fan sticking her tongue out at him afterwards) beat Ersson from far out on the glove side. The goal restored Calgary’s two-goal lead.
🔥FLAMES GOAL🔥
— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) January 1, 2026
Rasmus Andersson scores on a 5 on 3! It's 3-1 Calgary
🎥: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/ZBcU77qnLF
Moments later, the Flames mascot Harvey the Hound presented the Flyers fan with a t-shirt that said “Rasmus Andersson Stared At Me.”
Sanheim’s day a whirlwind
Travis Sanheim had a busy 24 hours. Following the victory Monday night in Vancouver, then the travel to Calgary, Sanheim had a hard time getting some shuteye wondering if he was getting a call to be part of Team Canada’s Olympic squad. Well, we know how that turned out. Whether he was running on fumes or adrenaline, Sanheim put in another strong game with Jamie Drysdale as his partner as Emil Andrae wasn’t in the lineup. But he got dinged blocking a shot off his knee about five minutes in, hobbling to the bench. However he was out there again, fortunately eating up minutes as he usually does.
Sanheim made a great rush late in the second and tried the wraparound but couldn’t get enough on it. Through two periods he was second in minutes played among Flyers defenseman. Sanheim was at 15:56, nine seconds behind Rasmus Ristolainen.
Juulsen returns
Noah Juulsen returned to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 14 against the Hurricanes. Juulsen was paired with Nick Seeler and looked okay most of the first period. He was on the ice for the lone goal of the first which put Calgary ahead. Yet he seemed to not have a whole lot of rust on his game, especially with no playing time in 17 days. After two periods, Juulsen was at 7:16 in terms of ice time and found himself second among Flyers skaters with a 78.41 expected goals for percentage, only behind Noah Cates.
Vladar gets kudos as Ersson starts
Early in the first the Flames gave a short tribute to Dan Vladar who was with Calgary last season. Vladar thanked the crowd as the opposition tapped their sticks in appreciation for his time there. He wasn’t in net on this night as Philadelphia gave the start to Sam Ersson. The shots on goal were one each through the first 10 minutes, with Ersson’s first stop of the night a good one against Calgary’s Blake Coleman in close. Sadly, Ersson couldn’t handle a Mikael Backlund shot roughly 13 minutes into the contest. The shot beat him on the glove side and, while he might have been screened by Nick Seeler who tried to block it, it was once again a shot by Ersson you would think he could’ve got a piece of. It sounds like a broken record, but Philadelphia gave up the first goal now 27 times in 39 games. Unacceptable.
Ersson was having his standard kind of start, as two of Calgary’s first four shots were behind him. The second saw a lot of traffic in front as the puck bounced off former Flyer Morgan Frost for a goal. Philadelphia quickly replied as Nick Seeler cut the deficit in half. However, Calgary challenged the goal, believing Carl Grundstrom interfered with Wolf on the goal. Calgary won the challenge, but were called for a tripping penalty which put Philadelphia on the power play. Dvorak had a few chances thanks to some good passing by Barkey, but couldn’t finish.
The Flyers finally got a bit of puck luck as Konecny just got enough of the puck to get it by Wolf. A Flames forward tried to clear it but fortunately for Philadelphia it bounced off the far post and curled in.
FLYERS GET ONE BACK OFF AN EXTREMELY WEIRD GOAL (which I believe is Travis Konecny's)! DVO AND ZEGRAS ASSISTS. #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/cFP5E9NuY9
— Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) January 1, 2026
Ersson wasn’t great, but the Flyers weren’t much better in front of him. A backward pass by Bobby Brink in essentially garbage time nearly made it 6-1, but Ersson atoned for Brink’s major miscue. Ersson made 19 stops on 24 shots for another ugly .792 save percentage.
Michkov could’ve had four assists
Matvei Michkov has been playing better. And he almost got an assist on a Rasmus Ristolainen cannon that was deflected. The puck nearly landed in the back of the net but just landed behind it. Late in the first, Michkov held on to the puck behind the net and fed Juulsen with a perfect pass. Juulsen rifled the shot off the post as Flames goalie Dustin Wolf thanked the iron after the play. He also fed Sanheim with a great pass but Sanheim’s shot sailed over the net. Again, no points came of the plays, but they were plays that you mainly weren’t seeing from him the first 20 to 25 games of the season.
In the second, Michkov again created a prime scoring chance, intercepting a pass in midair before sending Tippett in alone on Wolf. Tippett, like Juulsen, and Ristolainen, couldn’t score. It’s a good sign the youngster is heading in the right direction. Even more importantly, in his first 11 shifts of the game, eight of them were at least 50 seconds or more. It appears Michkov is staying out a bit longer per shift than he previously was.
Dvorak no luck around the net
As mentioned before, Dvorak missed a chance off a feed from Michkov, but had a chance to make it a 3-2 game with a solid short-handed opportunity. He missed what looked to be a near guaranteed tap in. Seconds later it proved to be a two-goal swing as Calgary came back up the ice and made it a 4-1 contest.
And finally…
Thank you all for reading, commenting, liking, and subscribing to Broad Street Hockey the last 365 days. May you all have a happy and healthy 2026!
