The Calgary Flames headed to Washington, D.C. on Sunday night to face the Capitals. While the Flames were engaged from the get-go, unfortunately some key mistakes at key times came back to haunt them. The Flames ended their road trip on a losing note with a 4-2 setback to the Capitals.

The Rundown

The Flames hit the scoreboard first in this one, as a smart Andrew Mangiapane forecheck led to Dmitry Orlov coughing up the puck to Matthew Tkachuk. Mangiapane went to the net, accepted Tkachuk’s pass, and beat Ilya Samsonov to make it 1-0 Flames.
But the Capitals responded back. Mark Giordano got caught pinching, leaving TJ Brodie to defend a two-on-one rush by his lonesome. Brodie chose to cover Evgeni Kuznetsov, leaving Jakub Vrana free for a pass. His wrist shot eluded Cam Talbot and made it a 1-1 game.
The Capitals took a lead later in the period. Travis Hamonic’s clearing attempt off a dump-in was intercepted by Orlov. A couple passes later, Vrana beat Talbot with an in-close wrist shot to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead.
But the Flames answered back with a late goal. With just 1.6 seconds left in the period, Elias Lindholm redirected an Oliver Kylington point shot past Samsonov to make it 2-2.
Shots were 10-7 Capitals and scoring chances 10-9 Capitals in the opening period.
The second period was rather back and forth, without a ton of great chances or flow. But the Capitals took the lead after Vrana got his own rebound off a breakaway chance. Giordano pinched, Brodie was caught flat-footed at the point and Vrana had oodles of time. That made it 3-2 Capitals.
Shots were 13-11 Capitals and scoring chances 11-5 Flames in the second period.
The Capitals added some insurance early in the third period on the power play. The Flames were chasing the puck around, giving Lars Eller a bit of extra space to maneuver and he went bar-down on Talbot to make it 4-2 Washington.
The Flames had some looks but couldn’t bury anything in the third period.

Why the Flames Lost

This was for all intents and purposes a schedule loss. The Flames were playing on back-to-back nights, with travel, facing a rested Capitals squad. That said, they made a game of it.
The Capitals didn’t blow their doors off or dominate. The Flames simply made a few mistakes that ended up costing them – their even strength goals against were two bad pinches and a rough clearing attempt. The Capitals are a damn good hockey club, but the Flames made them work for their two points.

Red Warrior

Mangiapane was superb, making a ton of smart plays and making the second line pretty dangerous all night.

The Turning Point

The Flames were so close to heading to the locker room tied after two periods, but a couple bad reads allowed Vrana to complete his hat trick and gave the Capitals much-needed breathing room heading into the third period.

The Numbers

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Percentage stats are 5v5.
Corsi
For%
O-Zone
Face-Off%
Game
Score
Jankowski
79.0
50.0
0.595
Rieder
72.2
60.0
0.625
Frolik
70.0
50.0
0.550
Brodie
60.6
45.5
0.250
Mangiapane
60.0
63.6
1.910
Backlund
58.6
63.6
0.325
Andersson
57.1
71.4
0.750
Giordano
56.8
41.7
0.025
Quine
55.6
25.0
0.000
Bennett
55.6
25.0
0.290
Hanifin
55.3
53.9
0.300
Kylington
54.6
55.6
1.325
Hamonic
52.6
43.8
0.125
Lindholm
51.9
62.5
0.875
Ryan
50.0
22.2
0.040
Tkachuk
50.0
58.3
0.825
Gaudreau
42.9
55.6
-0.350
Monahan
42.9
55.6
-0.425
Talbot
—
—
-0.200
Rittich
—
—
—

This and That

The World Series champion Washington Nationals were celebrating and crushing beers throughout the game. A good time was had by all.

Up Next

The Flames (8-7-2) are heading home. They have a day off tomorrow, then get back in action on Tuesday evening when they host the Arizona Coyotes at the Saddledome.
Mary Brown’s Chicken & Taters is no fuss, no fillers. We make our signature chicken and other menu items 100% fresh from scratch. After 50 years, we are still proudly keeping it authentic and perfectly seasoned as Mary Brown herself would have done it. We take our signature chicken with serious dedication but, hey, we still know how to have fun with it — just try our Chicken Pop-Ins. Visit us to explore all our menu options and find a location near you.