Post-Game: Bubble burst by Jets

With a bunch of roster decisions to make, the Calgary Flames threw together a roster mostly full of players on the bubble and headed to Winnipeg to face a Jets team mostly made of opening day NHL bodies. The Flames had a few nice moments and plays here and there, but ultimately the bubble boys were burst by the Jets. They lost by a 5-2 score, primarily due to (a) Patrik Laine being very good and (b) the Flames giving up four power play goals against.

A bunch of Brad Treliving’s decisions got a bit easier, while a few remain up in the air.

The Jets opened the scoring midway through the first period, with Mark Scheifele scoring 22 seconds into a power play. Three minutes later, Laine scored a nice wrist shot off the rush to make it 2-0. The Flames answered back, though, with Monahan scoring a beauty. He accepted a pass from Spencer Foo right as he entered the zone and went top-corner on Steve Mason to make it 2-1.

 

Before the period ended, Matthew Tkachuk tied it up with a really nice shot off the rush to make it 2-2 heading into the intermission.

Shots were 11-9 Jets.

Winnipeg scored two more in the second, both on the power play. Laine sniped a shot past Eddie Lack early on to make it 3-2. Three minutes later, Laine hit the post and the puck bounced into the crease for Nikolaj Ehlers to poke it to make it 4-2. Shots were 17-9 Jets.

The third was very low-event offensively. The Jets played decent defense and the Flames seemed too worn down to make much happen. Jacob Trouba caught Marek Hrivik with an elbow, leading to a scrap with Garnet Hathaway. Trouba got a match penalty, Hathaway was tossed for instigating the fight, and Hrivik left the game due to the shot to the head. Glen Gulutzan had to roll with 10 forwards for the remainder of the game. Dustin Byfuglien scored on a late period power play to make it 5-2. Shots were 10-6 Flames.

The Jets brutalized them on the power play, with four goals on seven shots. The Flames couldn’t generate nearly enough at even strength to make up the ground their special teams gave up.

Laine’s second period goal tipped the game. The Flames had clawed back to tie the game after going down 2-0, but they weren’t able to muster the energy after going down 3-2 to claw back again.

Tkachuk gets the nod here for his nice offensive outing, but Mark Jankowski, Monahan, Dube and Foo all looked pretty good. (Once Gulutzan shuffled lines late in the game, Dube ended up on the left side of Jankowski and Foo and it was quite good.)

(All figures via our friends at Natural Stat Trick. Percentage stats are 5-on-5.)

There were three fights in this game, one in each period. Ryan Lomberg fought JC Lipon, Garnet Hathaway fought Dustin Byfuglien and Garnet Hathaway fought Jacob Trouba. Circle Oct. 7 on your calendar if you hadn’t already, because that could be quite the spirited home opener.

The Flames head home and most likely make some cuts tomorrow. After that, they’re back in action on Thursday night in Vancouver against the Canucks.