Post-Game: Capital gains

The Calgary Flames have been reeling as of late. After four consecutive losses, Thursday’s game against the Ottawa Senators was basically the game they needed. The Flames played a solid, if unspectacular, 60-plus minutes of hockey. They made a few mistakes, but they were good enough for two points on this occasion.

The Flames headed into the All-Star Break on the heels of a 3-2 overtime victory over the Senators.

If you have this one PVRed, a word of warning: this game had a very deliberate pace, which is code for “you could use this to get to sleep.” Aside from a really nice goal by Sean Monahan and overtime, this one wasn’t exactly picture-perfect.

The Flames achieved a moral victory in the first: they didn’t get scored on! They ever spotted the Senators a late power play but defended well. Shots were 6-6.

Things got even better for Calgary in the middle period of regulation, as they scored first – for the first time since their January 7 victory over Vancouver. It was a nice effort by Matt Stajan to drive the net and drop a pass to Micheal Ferland. Ferland’s initial shot was blocked, but he gathered the rebound and beat Mike Condon through traffic to make it 1-0.

The Flames made it 2-0 off a scramble out front and a nice effort from Sean Monahan out-muscling (and out-skilling) a bunch of Senators players.

Between the legs! Shots were 10-8 in the second for the Flames.

Ottawa clawed back in the second. Tommy Wingels deflected a point shot past Brian Elliott to make it 2-1. Late in the period, with Ottawa’s goalie pulled, Chris Wideman beat Elliott off a nice point shot to tie it up. Shots were 10-8 Ottawa in the third.

So they went to overtime. The Flames were playing defense for much of the frame, but Mikael Backlund managed to corral the puck and sneak behind the defense for a late two-on-zero rush with Johnny Gaudreau. They didn’t waste the opportunity.

Shots in overtime were 3-2 Ottawa.

The Flames were just consistently better than the Senators. They scored first and they were buzzing more than Ottawa was for the duration. They were unlucky to be tied after 60 minutes and they managed to make something happen in overtime when they desperately, desperately needed two points.

For the first time in a long time, the Flames played with more desperation than their opponent.

It seems that this season, if something needs doing it’ll be Backlund that gets it done. It was nice to see Gaudreau’s game rewarded, as he had a bunch of decent chances.

Elliott. He came in and made saves when saves were needed. He was quite good early and pretty good throughout this game.

Stick-taps also go to Monahan for his sick goal and Gaudreau for a two-point game.

(Percentage stats are even strength. Game score is overall. Data via Natural Stat Trick.)

The Flames scored the first goal for the first time in 10 games. They never trailed in this game, too.

The Flames (25-24-3) fly home tonight and go their separate ways for the All-Star Brak. Johnny Gaudreau is headed to Los Angeles for the festivities while everyone else is off to do other things. They’re back at practice on Monday afternoon and are back in game action on Wednesday night when they host the Minnesota Wild at the Saddledome.

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