Post-Game: Fancy cats scorched by Flames

After a weekend where they captured just one of a possible four points, tonight’s game against the Florida Panthers was a big one for the Calgary Flames. They came out of the gate looking motivated and despite giving up a pair of early goals, they controlled the balance of this game and were full marks in a 5-2 victory over their guests.

Here’s how it went down.

The first period was basically a tale of two teams. One team had a bunch of shots but could barely beat the other goaltender. The other team had a handful of shots but scored often. Unfortunately for the locals, they were the team with fewer goals. Vincent Trocheck opened the scoring early in the first, as Jared McCann sprung him with a nice pass (around a poke-checking Mark Giordano) and Trocheck went high-glove on Johnson to make it 1-0.

The Flames tied the game about three minutes later with a weird one; Kris Versteeg accepted a pass from Sean Monahan at the very top of the face-off circles and backhanded the puck towards the net. It slid between a series of skates and just beat Roberto Luongo through all that traffic to make it 1-1. However, Trocheck scored again just shy of two minutes later off basically the same play he scored on before – though this time it was a wrister off the rush on a three-on-two rather than him being sent in alone. That made it 2-1. Shots were 10-5 Flames in the first.

The Flames continued to press in all situations throughout the second period. Unlike in the first period, they scored goals a-plenty. With Aaron Ekblad in the box for his second minor of the game (he was called for sitting on Lance Bouma), Calgary’s power play went to work. The Gaudreau unit didn’t do a heck of a lot, but the Backlund group ended up scoring. After Luongo made an initial save, Michael Frolik collected the puck and calmly skated around the net, then passed into the slot for a pinching Mark Giordano to snipe one past Luongo to make it 2-2.

With another Panther in the box midway through the period, the Backlund unit struck again. Matthew Tkachuk tipped a Giordano point shot over top of Luongo and the puck dropped behind him for Backlund to bat in to take a 3-2 lead.

Just 13 seconds later, Backlund got another one off a heck of a pass by Tkachuk. Tkachuk was behind the Panthers net and surprised Luongo with a between-the-legs pass to Backlund at the front of the net for the tap-in through Luongo’s pads and a 4-2 lead.

Shots were 14-6 Flames in the second.

The third period featured the Flames on cruise control and the Panthers not pushing back all that much. Florida out-shot the Flames 11-5 in the final frame, on the back of a trio of power plays that netted them nine shots, but they couldn’t bury anything. Sean Monahan added an empty netter to ice this one.

They played a really good first period and didn’t have the lead. So they kept at it and had a really good second period and were rewarded with many goals. It helps that the 3M Line were excellent, especially in that second period.

The second Backlund goal, coming just 13 seconds after the first one, was the death knell for Florida.

There was a lot to like on the home side tonight. Backlund had a pair of goals, so he gets this honour.

But hey, Giordano, Frolik, Backlund and Monahan all had multi-point games. Gaudreau didn’t get on the scoresheet somehow, but he was flying tonight and had a few near-misses.

Mikael Backlund remains the Flames leading scorer. He hit the 30-point mark tonight, which was the third time he’s hit that.

Freddie Hamilton played his first game since January 6, in as a game-time decision as Micheal Ferland (lower body) was unable to play. He earned some praise from head coach Glen Gulutzan for his efforts in the post-game press conference.

The Flames had two goals called back for off-sides off of coach’s challenges. Both were scored by the fourth line.

“I liked our resolve. We made a couple of mistakes early that cost us and some chances, but we stuck to our game. I thought for the most part of the game we had better looks and better chances and we were carrying the play.” – Gulutzan on his team’s effort.

“Backs hasn’t gotten enough credit the last few years. He’s been a good two-way centerman in the league for a long time. Maybe because his offense is coming this year everyone thinks that something’s changed but defensively he’s the same player. He’s getting a lot of looks and he’s feeling good and burying the puck this year, and it’s going a long way for our team.” – Giordano on Backlund’s 200-foot efforts.

“I’m here to go to playoffs. It’s been too many years that we’ve missed playoffs so that’s the main goal this year. I’m happy to help the team get there. I’d rather have 10 points and a playoff spot than 60 points and no playoff spot.” – Backlund on his motivation this season.

The Flames (24-20-3) are back at it tomorrow for practice and play again on Thursday night when they host the Nashville Predators.