Calgary Flames Post-Game: Flames survive sub-par second, sink Seattle in overtime

The Calgary Flames cannot seem to win in Las Vegas, to the point where it’s almost funny. The opposite is true with them in Seattle; they cannot lose at Climate Pledge Arena. Despite a pretty poor second period performance that saw them lose a lead, the Flames rallied back to force overtime and beat the Seattle Kraken in overtime by a 4-3 score.

The Flames were all over the Kraken on their first couple of shifts, and got rewarded with a goal just 76 seconds into the hockey game. Mikael Backlund’s line hemmed Seattle in a bit, and Elias Lindholm’s line cashed in. Lindholm took a pass from Rasmus Andersson and fired the puck past Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer to give Calgary’s a 1-0 lead.

But the Kraken answered back about midway through the period. Alexander Wennberg won a face-off in the Flames’ zone and Vince Dunn’s slapper found a way through some traffic and beat Dan Vladar to tie the game up at 1-1.

But the Flames retook the lead a few minutes later on the power play. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare took a tripping penalty. Nine seconds into the ensuing power play, the Flames scored. They lost the initial face-off, but Nazem Kadri battled for the puck and threw it back to the point. A couple passes later, Jonathan Huberdeau’s shot from the left point deflected off a Seattle player and beat Grubauer to make it 2-1 Flames.

First period shots were 10-7 Kraken (10-6 Kraken at five-on-five) while five-on-five scoring chances were 8-6 Flames (high-dangers were 4-1 Flames).

The Kraken swapped goaltenders to begin the second period, likely for injury-related reasons, as Joey Daccord relieved Gruabuer. While the goalie swap probably didn’t factor into it, the Kraken dominated the second period.

Seattle had a power play that generated a bunch but didn’t score. Shortly after the Flames killed off that penalty, though, Seattle scored. Jordan Eberle’s shot squeezed through Vladar’s pads and trickled across the line to tie the game at 2-2.

A couple minutes later, Seattle took the lead on a really nice tip-in goal from Jared McCann. Adam Larsson’s shot from the point was deflected by McCann, who had position on Rasmus Andersson, and beat Vladar inside the near post to give the Kraken a 3-2 lead.

Second period shots were 17-6 Kraken (13-5 Kraken at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 9-2 Kraken (high-dangers were 5-1 Kraken).

The Flames kept pushing throughout the third period, but couldn’t break through despite really controlling the flow of the game. That is, until late in the period.

After an unsuccessful power play expired, the Flames won an offensive zone face-off back to the point. Noah Hanifin’s shot from the left point was stopped by Daccord, but Andrew Mangiapane went right to the net and slid the rebound past the Seattle netminder to tie the game at 3-3.

The remainder of regulation solved nothing, so this game headed to extra time.

Third period shots were 16-3 Flames (13-3 Flames at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 11-8 Flames (high-dangers were 3-2 Flames).

Andersson went for a wrap-around in overtime. Daccord made the stop, but Andersson grabbed the loose rebound and fired it past a sprawling Daccord to give the Flames a 4-3 overtime victory.

There were stretches where the Flames got chasing a bit too much in their own zone, especially for big, big chunks of the second period. But the Flames had some really effective stretches in the first period, and for much of the third period and overtime. When the Flames skate, manage the puck well and just play a simple, smart, consistent style of game, they can be pretty difficult to beat.

Joint award time! Andersson had three points (two assists and the game-winning goal) and was quite effective offensively. And this may have been the most noticeable Jonathan Huberdeau has looked in forever; he made smart plays in all three zones and even got double-shifted in the third period as the Flames attempted to tie the game.

If you’re gonna criticize the Flames for their poor second period – and you should – you need to give them credit for a really, really effective third period performance. Seattle was on their heels for much of the frame.

Mangiapane’s goal in the third period was the 100th of his NHL career. Mikael Backlund had an assist on Andersson’s game winner, which represented Backlund’s 500th NHL point.

The Flames are now 6-0-0 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

The Flames shortened their bench in the third period. Walker Duehr and Yegor Sharangovich each had two shifts and Connor Zary had three shifts.

The Flames (7-8-3) are back in action on Wednesday night when they visit the Nashville Predators.