Calgary Flames Post-Game: Flames work overtime but settle for a point in Tempe

The Calgary Flames went into Tempe on Tuesday night to visit the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes are a loose team and are well out of the playoff picture. The Flames are clinging onto their playoff hopes for dear life. But the Coyotes were the better team for big chunks of this game, particularly the third period and overtime.

The Flames had some strong elements to their game, but had to settle for a single point via a 4-3 overtime loss at Mullett Arena.

The Flames opened the scoring midway through the first period after some fore-checking led to some Arizona turnovers. Eventually, a Coyote tried to make an outlet pass, but there wasn’t much on it and Rasmus Andersson intercepted it. Andersson found a seam and passed to Mikael Backlund at the face-off circle to Connor Ingram’s left. Backlund went to pass to the net-front area for Rasmus Andersson (and Blake Coleman), but the puck bonked off J.J. Moser’s skate and into the Coyotes net to make it 1-0 Flames.

The Coyotes tied things up just over a minute later, though. The Flames got chasing in their own end as the Coyotes cycled the puck. Barrett Hayton threw the puck into the slot area and an in-motion Clayton Keller just beat out Tyler Toffoli and deflected the puck past Jacob Markstrom to make it a 1-1 game.

Early in the second period, the Coyotes took the lead off some nice execution taking advantage of a fairly stationary Flames defensive posture. Matias Maccelli received a pass, deked through the blueliners and fired on Markstrom. Markstrom made an initial save, but Maccelli kept driving to the net and jammed in his own rebound to give the home side a 2-1 lead.

But just over a minute later, the Flames evened things up. Walker Duehr headed into the Arizona zone and fired a shot that went between Juuso Valimaki’s legs and beat Connor Ingram just over his pad to tie the game up at 2-2.

Midway through the second, the Coyotes briefly took a lead off a Travis Boyd shot that got past Markstrom. But the Flames challenged it for goalie interference, as Maccelli very obviously collided with Markstrom’s pad right before the shot. The goal was disallowed.

The Coyotes took the lead (for real, this time) early in the third period. Hayton used his stick to disrupt a Nazem Kadri attempted pass to MacKenzie Weegar. The puck went to Keller, and he and Hayton went in on an odd-man rush against Weegar. Keller opted to shoot and beat Markstrom for a shorthanded goal that gave the Coyotes a 3-2 lead.

But with just over five minutes left, the Flames drew even. On a bit of a broken play on a missed pass by Dillon Dube, the puck bounced over to the side boards near the top of the circles. Troy Stecher opted to throw it on net, firing from the flank. Jonathan Huberdeau, skating through the circle, got a stick on the Stecher shot and it fluttered past Ingram to tie the game at 3-3.

This game needed extra time, and the Coyotes were on the attack for much of the overtime period. Valimaki fired a shot on Markstrom. The Flames’ netminder made the initial save, but Boyd drove the net (just beating out Jakob Pelletier) and chipped the loose rebound into the net.

The Coyotes won this game 4-3 in overtime.

This game was like the greatest hits of the 2022-23 Flames:

They weren’t bad. But when the game was up for the taking, the Coyotes grabbed hold of it and then defended well to cement their victory.

Man, Markstrom gave the Flames a chance in this game yet again. He made a lot of big saves early in this game, particularly on defensive lapses that resulted in breakaways for Brett Ritchie and Laurent Dauphin.

Needing a game-tying goal in the late stages of the third period, the Flames got one from Huberdeau that got them to extra time.

Calgary’s first goal was announced in-building as Coleman’s goal, then changed to Mangiapane, then changed again to Backlund during the intermission.

This was the 20th overtime game of the season for the Flames.

The Flames (30-24-14) are off to Nevada. They visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday evening.