Just over a month ago he combined on a remarkable trade, Calgary Flames and host Philadelphia Flyers squared Tuesday.
Philadelphia is 4-0-1 in its last five matches as the team has started to integrate Andrei Kuzmo and Jakob Pelletier in their range. They came to the flyer, along with a couple of draft elections, in exchange for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee on January 30.
Calgary is 3-5-2 since the deal and has not yet scored more than three goals in any of these ten matches. The flames have been particularly quiet offensively during their current 0-2-1 distance and made only once in the last three excursions.
“You go through these distances during the season when you get into track,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said after Sunday’s 2-1 overtime loss to Carolina Hurricanes. “We are in an offensive right now. But it will turn as long as the work and the competition is still there, and I saw it right until the end (Sunday).”
Nazem Kadri scored the only goal for Flames, which is 1-2-1 on its current sex game, which ends with stops in Philadelphia and Dallas.
“We fought to the end,” Kadri said. “… we would like to get two points, but it feels like we should have had two.”
Philadelphia got away with two points in her last match-an impressive 2-1 shootout victory in Winnipeg where Ivan Fedotov made 29 rescues before stopping all three Jets trials in Shootout.
Matvei Michkov’s fine Shootout -Tally turned out to be the decisive goal for Flyers, while Jamie Drysdale also scored a goal in the regulation.
“(Fedotov) was outstanding and played against one of, or the best, goalkeeper in the league, probably, in (Connor Hellebuyck),” said Philadelphia coach John Tortorella. “I thought everyone contributed.”
The Flyers are now returning home for a seven-game home tooth, including challenging competitions against Winnipeg, Tampa Bay and Carolina.
First up, however, is the matchup with Frost and Farabee, which has not had much success individually-or as a team, with the flames since he came over in four players.
“At the moment you are obviously sorry to leave your teammates that you have been with … but at the same time I think we both probably needed a new start anyway,” Frost said shortly after the trade. “We’re hunting. Hopefully we can come in and give the team a boost.”
To his point, that plan has not become real. Frost has two goals and one assist and is a minus-4 in ten matches with Calgary, while Farabee is a minus-3 and has registered just one goal without assists.
At the same time, Kuzmenko has a goal, two assists and one minus-4 in five matches with Philadelphia, while Pelletier has an assist in their four competitions with Flyers.
Kuzmenko is in particular an interesting piece for Philadelphia. They need his crime – both his points and his gambling – but they can also handle him again before the trade deadline for an opportunity presents themselves.
“I will act accordingly when we go through this, and the organization will act accordingly when we look at this,” said tortorella initially when it comes to Kuzmenkos stint in orange and black. “It’s a bit of an audition of, what are you, can you help us, (and) do you want to help us? … and we will make a decision from there.”
-Field level media
