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Jonathan Huberdeau, Calgary Flames (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Huberdeau Scores Twice in 2-1 Flames Win Over Flyers

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Andrew McGuinness | Last updated Nov 2, 2025 9:59 PM ET

For the Philadelphia Flyers to meet their goals of being a more competitive team than they were a season ago, the start of their campaign loomed particularly large. The league’s schedule makers gave the team the chance to set an early tone if they could survive four season-opening meetings against Cup contenders, with nine of the team’s 12 games to start the season taking place at the newly minted Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Finishing with a 6-5-1 record keeps the Flyers out of an early hole like the one the Calgary Flames have fallen into this season. But by losing to the Flames on Sunday, who improved to 3-9-2 with a 2-1 win, they missed an opportunity to feel positive about their overall play through their first dozen games.

Game Recap

The Flyers came out of the gates in decent shape, with Nick Seeler and Nikita Grebenkin hitting the post in the first five minutes and change. But they failed to test Dustin Wolf at all in the final half of the period, even with Christian Dvorak getting a late shorthanded breakaway chance that he missed wide. The Flames quietly racked up a respectable 10 shots, with MacKenzie Weegar accounting for a dangerous slot look and a post hit of his own. But neither team did much to remove the zero next to their logos on the scoreboard.

The game did get an early injection of offense in the second period, with Jonathan Huberdeau wristing in his third goal of the season from the left circle just 2:15 in. However, that was more of an abnormality than a norm. The teams combined for the same underwhelming 13 shots on goal that they registered in the first period. While Natural Stat Trick did credit the Flyers with five high-danger scoring chances, they still felt stuck in gear for the vast majority of the frame.

Rick Tocchet had no choice but to shuffle Philadelphia’s forward group, which heavily felt the loss of Tyson Foerster to a lower-body injury suffered during Saturday’s game. But Huberdeau’s second of the game, doubling his total from his first eight games, on a deflection just 2:15 into the frame, left the Flyers seriously behind the eight-ball.

The goal didn’t exactly serve as a wake-up call, with the Flyers still struggling to generate chances deep into the period. But with 5:40 remaining, Travis Konecny broke the goose egg, ripping the puck immediately after a face-off win by Noah Cates. Ultimately, they ran out of time, with Dustin Wolf making a few big saves to produce his second-best game this season by save percentage (.944%). Aleksei Kolosov delivered a respectable performance in his first start of the season for the Flyers, stopping 19 of 21 shots.

Unsurprisingly, the Flyers now have a lot of road hockey on their horizon, starting with a two-game road trip to Montréal and Nashville. The Flames will get a nice reprieve after a four-game road swing of their own with two off days before hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday. However, they too will be frequent fliers in November, playing 10 of their 15 November games away from the Scotiabank Saddledome.