Flames Post-Game: Flames win ‘should-win’ game in Ottawa

The Calgary Flames visited the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night. The Senators played the night before. The Senators are missing between 11 and 14 NHL regulars, depending on how you want to define “regulars,” due to injuries and COVID-19 positive tests. This was a game the Flames really should have won.

And they did. The Flames were full marks in a 4-0 victory over the Senators.

The opening period was pretty even and low-event, but the Flames opened the scoring near the end of the period. Oliver Kylington made a nice play at the blueline to hold the puck in, then made a pass to Sean Monahan in the high slot. Monahan’s shot was redirected by Andrew Mangiapane past Anton Forsberg to make it 1-0 Flames.

Shots were 13-7 Senators (7-6 Senators at five-on-five) and scoring chances 3-2 Flames in the first period.

The second period was much more one-sided, as yesterday’s game caught up to Ottawa and they began to slow down and execute more sloppily.

The Flames made it 2-0 early in the period. Rasmus Andersson held onto a loose puck and kept it in the offensive zone. He hucked a puck at the net and Elias Lindholm made a nice redirect, which caused the shot to wobble past Forsberg to double Calgary’s lead.

On a power play, the Flames added to their lead. A couple Flames made shots that Forsberg stopped, but Lindholm fed Matthew Tkachuk for a third scoring chance and he buried the feed past Forsberg to make it 3-0 Flames.

Shots were 16-6 Flames (11-5 Flames at five-on-five) and scoring chances 9-4 Flames in the second period.

Shortly after serving a minor penalty, Nikita Zadorov made it 4-0 Flames early in the third period. He led the rush up the ice and fired a shot from the top of the face-off circle that eluded Forsberg to give the Flames a 4-0 lead.

The Flames held on for the regulation victory. Shots were 10-9 Flames (8-6 Flames at five-on-five) and scoring chances 6-4 Flames in the third period.

They are who we thought they were. Both teams.

The Flames looked equal parts structured, patient and composed. They were looking for their first win in a little while and did what they could to make Ottawa’s evening a challenging one. The Senators responded to the Flames’ efforts by getting worn down, making mistakes, and having the Flames capitalize on them.

It was the game the Flames needed to play to get the result they needed to get.

Let’s do a joint award: Mangiapane got his team-leading 10th goal of the season, and Dan Vladar was full marks starting his second consecutive game for the club.

This was a game where it didn’t seem like Ottawa had much of a chance, but the Mangiapane goal in the late first period really seemed to put a big barrier between the Senators and any hope of a victory. It also seemed to give the Flames a big boost and they were much more assured with the puck from that point onward.

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Percentage stats are 5v5.

Erik Gudbranson fought Zach Sanford at the end of the second period.

The Flames (8-3-4) are off to Philadelphia. They play the Flyers on Tuesday night.