Flames power through bad bounces against Anaheim

The @Calgary Flames were the better team for much of their Monday afternoon game against the @Anaheim Ducks. Yet somehow 3:05 into the third period they were down two goals and facing the prospect of losing yet another home game to a conference foe.

16:55 later, they were celebrating a hard-fought victory where rather than wilt when down a pair of goals they doubled down.

The big story of the afternoon was @Andrew Mangiapane’s first NHL hat trick. The winger had a monster night, with three goals, a primary assist, three shots and a plus-four rating – his 4.515 game score is easily the best single game performance by a Flame this season.

His coach really liked his game.

“I just thought he was on pucks,” said interim head coach Geoff Ward. “I thought he was a major factor in our forecheck and our forecheck did an awful lot in the hockey game, especially with the two goals in the third period. I just thought he was around pucks tonight, he was on pucks, and so he played with it a lot tonight.”

The Flames didn’t get their first lead of the game until the 12:59 mark of the third period, playing either tied or trailing for the preceding 42:59. But the Flames out-chanced the Ducks heading into the third period by a 23-13 margin – 11-5 in high-danger chances – and were unlucky enough to be trailing at that point.

When the Flames allowed their third hard-luck goal against early in the third – off a shot that careened in off Michael Stone’s skate – they could’ve folded up shop. Instead, they dug in.

“We felt after the second period we had played a pretty good hockey game,” said Ward. “We hadn’t given up a lot defensively, and he made some saves and we wanted to make sure we stuck with our game and kept the puck moving forward and tried to be direct to the net, get bodies there. All of our goals were pretty direct to the net, so that was what we were talking about in-between periods. Guys just stuck with it and they’re full credit for sticking with it.”

Flames alternate captain Matthew Tkachuk concurred with his coach in terms of how the team managed to rally back – noting that he felt the Flames dominated much of the game and were able to bounce back after Anaheim’s third goal early in the third period.

All-told, Anaheim’s four goals were: a turnover that became a breakaway, a turnover that became a breakaway, a shot off the side boards that deflected off a defender, and a shot from the point that deflected off an attacker. For the second straight game against Anaheim, the Flames did a fine job keeping the Ducks to the outside.

@Alexander Yelesin drew in for his second NHL outing, following a decent (if uneven) debut against Los Angeles on the road trip. He played 11:48 – exclusively at even strength – and played primarily with @Oliver Kylington, though he also had a few shifts with TJ Brodie in the second period.

“I liked him,” assessed Ward. “I thought he was direct. I thought he played hard. I thought he closed up on his gaps extremely well. He was physical. Moved it up. I liked his game a lot.”