Calgary Flames Post-Game: Flames beat the house, triumph over Vegas with late overtime goal

The Calgary Flames welcomed the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Vegas Golden Knights, to town on Monday evening. In their first game back after a hefty road trip, the Flames played a fairly buttoned-down brand of hockey and essentially played in a battle of wills with Vegas’ structure-based game.

The Flames battled back from an early deficit and beat Vegas in overtime by a 2-1 score with a dramatic goal with 4.8 seconds left.

The opening 20 minutes were fairly low-event and tight-checking. The Flames had slightly more looks, especially at five-on-five, but a minor penalty led to the first goal of the game… for the road team.

With Andrew Mangiapane in the box of punishment for hooking, Nicolas Roy’s initial shot was stopped by Dan Vladar, but the rebound went directly to William Karlsson, who fired it past Vladar to give Vegas a 1-0 lead.

First period shots were 11-8 Flames (8-4 Flames at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 9-6 Flames (high-dangers were 3-3).

Neither team scored a goal in the second period, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Both teams had some really good chances. Both goaltenders made very nice saves to keep the game at 1-0.

Second period shots were 10-9 Golden Knights (7-7 at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 7-6 Flames (high-dangers were 2-0 Golden Knights).

The Flames drew even early in the third period. A Nazem Kadri scoring chance hit shinpads in front of the Vegas net, but the puck rebounded into the slot for A.J. Greer, racing in from the bench on a line change. Greer fired the puck past Adin Hill to tie the game up at 1-1.

Both teams had their opportunities to win the game in regulation, but this contest required extra time.

Third period shots were 9-8 Flames (all at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 6-4 Flames (high-dangers were 3-1 Flames).

The Flames carried over a power play into overtime, looking to exorcise both their overtime and power play demons in one fella swoop, but they were unable to do so – even with a couple Vegas players breaking their sticks during the man advantage sequence.

But the Flames kept coming, with MacKenzie Weegar beating Hill off the rush in overtime with just 4.8 seconds left in extra time to give the Flames a 2-1 victory.

The Flames didn’t have a lot of offensive swagger, but they played a really workmanlike game. They turned pucks over and made some miscues, but they kept working and battling to overcome them. This was not a pretty 60 minutes of ice hockey, but the Flames’ mantra for this season may as well be “Winning Ugly.”

The Flames stuck with it, and they were rewarded.

When Dan Vladar headed home after morning skate, he was preparing to back up Jacob Markstrom. He ended up starting instead, and was flat-out superb in this contest.

Weegar’s goal, of course.

Emergency backup Dustin Nickel dressed as backup behind Dan Vladar on a try-out contract due to Jacob Markstrom becoming unavailable due to illness too close to game time for the Flames to call up Dustin Wolf.

Vladar was crashed into by Vegas’ William Carrier early in the first period and by teammate MacKenzie Weegar early in the second period.

Chris Tanev left the game early in the first period and midway through the third period for repairs. (He didn’t return after his third period trip down the tunnel.)

The Flames (9-10-3) are back in action on Thursday at the ‘Dome when they close out their season series against the Dallas Stars.