Post-Game: Flames bounce back against Vancouver

This was a weird game. Coming just 22 hours after the Calgary Flames laid an egg against the Ottawa Senators at the Saddledome, the Flames came into Vancouver to play the Canucks and looked bad in the first period. They took tons of penalties and didn’t do a whole lot more than kill them well. But they turned a corner late in the second period and gutted out a 5-2 victory over the Canucks.

They might not have fixed every aspect of their game in one night, but they showed a great deal of in-game improvement.

If you have the game PVRed, skip the first period. The Flames took 10 minutes in minor penalties and spent almost half of the first killing them. Mike Smith was good early. After the Flames killed off a 61-second five-on-three, Freddie Hamilton grabbed a loose puck and led Troy Brouwer and Mark Giordano on a three-on-one rush – ending with Giordano’s 100th career goal being wristed past Jacob Markstrom to make it 1-0. Derek Dorsett answered back late in the period with a weird one; the initial shot on Smith bounced up, riccocheted off Dougie Hamilton’s face and went in the net. Shots were 12-8 Vancouver, scoring chances were 10-3 Vancouver.

The second period saw the teams exchange penalties, the Flames shuffle their lines, and the game lack a lot of flow. But the Flames managed to take the lead. With everybody clumped around the side of Markstrom’s net, the puck squirted out to the slot and Travis Hamonic slid down from the point and beat the Canucks netminder to make it 2-1.

A little bit later, the younger (Dougie) Hamilton scored off a Sean Monahan face-off win with a wrister from the point to make it 3-1. Shots were 11-4 Flames and scoring chances were 10-4 Flames.

The Flames got a few chances in the third, particularly on their special teams, and capitalized. They made it 4-1 midway through the period on a nice give-and-go play between Johnny Gaudreau and Jaromir Jagr that ended with Gaudreau’s pass attempt to Monahan glancing off Michael del Zotto’s skate and past Markstrom. On the very next rush, Brock Boeser snuck past (Dougie) Hamilton and beat Smith with a nice wrister to make it 4-2. However, Hamilton redeemed himself with a nice wrist shot through traffic that squeaked past Markstrom to make it 5-2. Shots were 13-8 Vancouver, scoring chances were 12-0 Vancouver. (Score effects!)

 

 

The Canucks had just shy of 13 minutes of power play time and three shots, giving up a shorthanded goal. The Flames had just over 9 minutes of power play time and seven shots, scoring a power play goal. That was basically the game right there; the Flames penalty killers (and goalie) were better then Vancouver’s.

The Flames definitely didn’t play a complete game, but their best players were good enough to get the job done.

Dougie Hamilton had a pair of goals, so he gets the nod. But honourable mention to Giordano for his 100th career goal – joining a list that includes just Al MacInnis, Gary Suter and Paul Reinhart as far as blueliners that hit the century mark for goal-scoring as Flames – and to Smith for his fourth win and fifth strong game.

Hamonic’s goal sent the game tilting towards the Flames and Hamilton’s first goal gave the Flames the ability to play smart and protect their lead. Vancouver had chances after that point, but just weren’t able to generate anything dangerous.

Stockton beat Grand Rapids 4-0. David Rittich had 36 saves and the Heat got goals from Oliver Kylington, Mark Jankowski, Hunter Shinkaruk and Emile Poirier.

D’Artagnan Joly played his first game of the season for Baie-Comeau, returning from an injury. (He was held off the scoresheet.) Kelowna rallied back from a 3-0 deficit to lose 5-4 in overtime against Portland. Dillon Dube had two assists. Victoria beat Seattle 4-1. Matthew Phillips had two goals to bump his point total to 24 (in just 10 games).

Jagr ended up playing mostly on the top line with Monahan and Gaudreau, settling there in the late first period and sticking there for the rest of the night. He played 11:57, had an assist on Gaudreau’s power play goal and was plus-1. He still seems to be struggling at times with the pace of things, but to be fair he’s been skating at NHL speed for maybe two weeks. He’ll be fine.

The Flames (4-2-0) are off for four whole days. They’re off entirely tomorrow, then have three days of practice to prepare for the Carolina Hurricanes visiting on Thursday night – expect to see a few Whalers jerseys.