Calgary Flames Post-Game: The house always wins, but the Flames earn a point

The Calgary Flames played a pretty good hockey game in Las Vegas on Tuesday night. For the second consecutive game, they went into the third period with a lead, on the road, against a really strong opponent. For the second consecutive game, they just couldn’t hold onto the lead. But the Flames managed to force overtime with a goal in the final minute of regulation.

The Flames lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime by a 5-4 score.

For the third game in a row, the Flames scored first. Just over six minutes into the first period, Mikael Backlund skated into the Vegas zone and threw the puck on net. Logan Thompson booted out a rebound that went to his left and bounced off the side boards. It was collected by MacKenzie Weegar, who fired a slap shot that eluded Thompson to give the Flames a 1-0 edge.

The Flames had a power play that generated some decent chances, but late in their advantage Andrew Mangiapane took a hooking minor on Mark Stone. On the resulting Golden Knights power play, they tied the game. Chandler Stephenson’s original shot was blocked by Dennis Gilbert, but the puck went right back to Stephenson, who walked into the net-front area (around a sprawling Gilbert), moved to his backhand and chipped the puck past Dustin Wolf to even things up at 1-1.

First period shots were 16-14 Flames (11-10 Flames at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 4-4 (high-dangers were 3-0 Flames).

The Flames retook the lead early in the second period. Nazem Kadri’s line had a nice battling and cycling shift in the Vegas zone. That led to Martin Pospisil feeding Connor Zary the puck in the high slot, and his shot deflected in off Kadri, as he was battling for position in front of the net. That made it 2-1 Flames.

But a few minutes later, Vegas tied it back up. The Flames got hemmed in their own zone, leading to a few lost puck battles down low. Mark Stone got possession of the puck and fed Ivan Barbashev in the slot, and his shot beat Wolf to tie things up at 2-2.

As the period wound down, the Flames re-took the lead. (Again!) On an odd-man rush, Yegor Sharangovich opted to shoot rather than pass, and his shot trickled through Thompson into the net to give the Flames a 3-2 lead.

Second period shots were 15-4 Golden Knights (14-4 Golden Knights at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances 12-9 Golden Knights (high-dangers were 3-2 Golden Knights).

Weegar took a tumble and tripped up a Vegas player early in the third period, leading to another Golden Knights’ advantage. On that power play, William Karlsson found Stone carving through a seam in the Flames’ defensive coverage. Stone went in alone on Wolf and chipped the puck past him to tie the game at 3-3.

The Golden Knights grabbed a lead with just shy of four minutes left. The Flames won a face-off and Jordan Oesterle went to reverse the puck behind the net… to nobody. Jonathan Marchessault intercepted that puck, passed to Stephenson, who passed to Karlsson, who buried a one-timer past Wolf to give Vegas a 4-3 lead.

But the Flames rallied back late. With Wolf on the bench for the extra attacker, Noah Hanifin threw a puck on net from the point and Sharangovich redirected it past Thompson to tie the game back up at 4-4.

Third period shots were 12-9 Flames (9-7 Flames at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 5-4 Flames (high-dangers were 1-0 Flames).

This game required overtime to determine a winner. Stone scored on a breakaway, going post-and-in on Wolf, to give Vegas a 5-4 overtime victory.

At five-on-five, the Flames were what they’ve been for awhile. They weren’t flawless defensively, but they played a pretty smart, fast, structured game and did a pretty good job generating scoring chances (and taking advantage of their chances). Their even strength play kept them in this game, and nearly won it for them.

On special teams, the Flames just weren’t all that good. They allowed two power play goals and couldn’t generate nearly enough on their an advantages. And it was enough to cost them a regulation win.

Let’s give it to Wolf. A lot of guys were solid, but Wolf did a lot to cover up for some defensive lapses.

Let’s go with the last-minute goal from Sharangovich. The Flames were that close to leaving Vegas empty handed, but the deflection goal meant they at least grabbed a point.

Andrew Mangiapane had five shifts in the first period. He took minor penalties on his third and fifth shifts, and was benched for the remainder of the period, but returned to his usual spot in the rotation for the second period.

With Chris Tanev day-to-day with an injury, he and Ilya Solovyov were cycled out and Jordan Oesterle and Nick DeSimone slotted in.

The Flames are now 1-7-2 all-time at T-Mobile Arena.

The Flames (11-14-4) finish off their road trip on Thursday night when they head to the Twin Cities to face the Minnesota Wild.