Post-Game: Flames fail crucial test, pushed to brink of elimination

The Calgary Flames went into Game 4 against the Colorado Avalanche needing to play their best game of the series. They did so, but some bad habits crept into their game and they blew a 2-0 third period lead and lost 3-2 in overtime.

The opening period was played tightly defensively by both teams for the most part. Nobody scored. The Flames got pucks on net, largely from the perimeter. The Avalanche got pucks on net from closer in. Shots were 15-13 Avalanche and scoring chances 8-1 Avalanche.

The second period was WILD. There’s no other way to put it.

The Flames got the only goal of the second period on the power play. After Sean Monahan was high-sticked, the Flames went to work: they won the faceoff, Elias Lindholm whipped the puck towards the net and it deflected off Patrik Nemeth (battling with Matthew Tkachuk out front) and past Philipp Grubauer to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

As you would expect, the Avalanche reacted to being down a goal at home by making a push. They doubled up their forecheck and the Flames simultaneously began to have challenges exiting the zone, resulting in a lot of zone time for Colorado and a lot of good scoring chances. But Mike Smith was superb.

Shots were 17-12 Avalanche and chances 14-8 Avalanche in the second period.

The Avalanche continued to push in the third period, but the Flames continued to defend fairly well and weather the storm. The Mikael Backlund line chipped the puck into the Colorado zone and went to work cycling (and even got a partial line change in). Eventually Juuso Valimaki put a puck on net. Grubauer made the initial save, but Derek Ryan buried the rebound to give the Flames a 2-0 lead.

Colorado finally got on the board on a bit of shoddy defensive play by the Flames. Matt Calvert drove the net and got an initial chance that was stopped, but J.T. Compher jumped on the rebound and roofed it over a sprawling Smith to cut Calgary’s lead to 2-1.

But Mikael Backlund took a tripping penalty late in the third period and on the ensuing man advantage, Mikko Rantanen redirected a Nathan MacKinnon pass past Smith to tie the game at 2-2. Immediately afterwards the Flames took a puck over glass penalty but they killed it off.

Shots were 14-7 Avalanche in the third period and chances 8-6 Avalanche.

The Flames had opportunities in overtime, including a power play. But they couldn’t take advantage and Rantanen buried a Carl Soderberg feed on a three-on-three rush to give the Avalanche a 3-2 win in overtime.

Shots were 6-5 Avalanche and chances 7-5 Flames in overtime.

This was the first game of this series where you could argue the “real Calgary Flames” (or a reasonable facsimile) showed up. They didn’t play a perfect game, and in their own end they frequently resulted to Colorado pressure by flinging the puck towards the neutral zone (leading to more Avalanche pressure). But for much of this game their puck management and neutral zone play was miles ahead of where it was in Games 1, 2 and 3.

That said, the Flames still really weren’t in this game all that much. They were out-shot and out-chanced in every period of regulation and looked like they were hanging on for dear life. Their defensive zone play got gradually worse as the game went on and it seemed like the Avalanche just turned up the pressure until the Flames faded out.

It’s gotta be Smith, once again, but the gap between him and his teammates wasn’t nearly as massive as it was in the previous three games.

Take your pick!

There were several times when this game was up for grabs. The Avalanche were the team that seemed more apt to taking it.

Ottawa Senators forward Brady Tkachuk was at the game.

Game 5 of this Best-of-Seven series goes Friday night at 8 p.m. MT at the Saddledome.