Calgary Flames Post-Game: Flames cool off the Jets to close out Penticton tournament

The Calgary Flames played a matinee game on Monday in Penticton, finishing off their scheduled Young Stars Classic commitments with an early game with the Winnipeg Jets. The Flames never trailed in this one, beating the Jets by a 4-2 score.

The Flames end up winning two of their three games in Penticton.

The Flames scored first in this game. Off a Jaden Lipinski face-off win, William Stromgren collected the puck and fired it past Winnipeg goaltender Thomas Milic to give them a 1-0 lead.

A little while later, though, the Flames took a couple penalties and Elias Salomonsson took advantage of the five-on-three opportunity to tie the game up at 1-1.

The Flames re-took the lead in the second period off a very familiar play. Once again, Lipinski won a face-off. This time, Milic made a save off a Samuel Honzek shot and Lipinski drove the net and jammed in the loose rebound to make it 2-1 Flames.

But, again, the Flames got into penalty trouble and the Jets tied things up on the man advantage, this time Nikita Chibrikov beat Connor Murphy to tie the game at 2-2.

Later in the period, though, the Flames drew a pair of minors in succession and got their own two-man advantage. This time, Adam Klapka buried a feed from Rory Kerins to give the Flames a 3-2 lead.

Stromgren added a late empty-netter to give the Flames a 4-2 lead and cement their victory.

The Flames were on their heels at times in the first period, but they built their game well. After the midway part of the first period, the Flames generally carried play and consistently out-chanced and out-scored the Jets. The Jets looked a bit sluggish – they played on Sunday – while the Flames were both a little bit better and a little bit more energetic than their counterparts.

Let’s go with Lipinski, who had points on three of Calgary’s four goals. But, like there was against Edmonton, there was a lot to like about the Flames’ output on this occasion. Aside from a bit of penalty trouble and a bit of offensive sloppiness, it’s hard to really criticize the team in red.

For the third game in a row, Adam Klapka, Rory Kerins and Yan Kuznetsov all wore As as alternate captains for the Flames.

Connor Murphy and Jari Kykkanen split goaltending duties for Calgary, while Thomas Milic and Domenic DeVincentiis did the same for Winnipeg.

The Flames are headed home. The veterans report for main camp on Wednesday and the on-ice portion is expected to begin on Thursday.