Post-Game: Comeback Kids (Yet Again)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…

The Calgary Flames, in a key match-up against a conference rival with key points up for grabs, came out of the gate slow. They got down early, to the point where one may have been tempted to write them off. Then, for the ninth time this season, they completely took over the game and won despite being down after 40 minutes.

The latest victim of the comeback kids were the Edmonton Oilers, who despite leading 2-0 through two periods of play dropped a 4-2 decision to the Calgary Flames. Either the Oilers packed it in or the Flames woke the heck up, or both, but man, that third period wasn’t even close.

Here’s how it went down.

The Flames were flat early, particularly in the first period. Despite out-shooting Edmonton 15-8 in the early frame, the Oilers scored twice and held an early lead. Jordan Eberle scored off a scramble, where the Flames were beaten for a loose puck and Eberle sniped one from the slot. Later, Dennis Wideman couldn’t corral a pass in the defensive end and Benoit Pouliot got a nice set-up from Eberle for a tap-in.

Nobody scored in the second, and the Flames seemed a bit tentative and out of sync. Shots were 6-6, and the Oilers did their best to keep it a low-event road game, with a good degree of success.

That success fell out the damn window in the third. The Flames skated. They created traffic in front of Ben Scrivens. They didn’t take penalties. They out-shot the Oilers 13-5. Mason Raymond opened the scoring, circling the net and letting traffic develop, then putting one past Scrivens from a far angle. A few minutes later, Lance Bouma came into the zone as the trailing man, took a pass from David Jones and sniped it past Scrivens to tie it. A few minutes after that, on a power-play, Sean Monahan knocked one home – from the same left side of Scrivens that Raymond and Bouma scored from – to make it 3-2. Lance Bouma scored again later on off a two-on-one with Mikael Backlund to make it 4-2.

The Oilers got awful in the third and the Flames got good. These awful starts need to stop as soon as humanly possible, but the Flames skated hard, created traffic and played a poised, disciplined third period and got goals from all across their line-up to win yet again when trailing after 40.

And, let’s face it, I don’t think there were many that thought the Oilers would win after giving up that first goal to Mason Raymond. Things just seemed to slip away from the visitors after that quite rapidly and completely.

Toiling on the shut-down line with Mikael Backlund and David Jones, Lance Bouma had his first multi-goal game. Honourable mention to David Wolf, who played well before having his ice time trimmed down significantly due to an injury (and the comeback) in the third.

The Flames got some help.

The Flames win! And Winnipeg lost! Suddenly Monday night’s game is supremely important, as the Flames can build up a bigger buffer on their pursuers and possible chase down the Jets for the higher wild-card spot. Oh, and potentially keep reeling in Vancouver and San Jose.