Post-Game: Flames fall in overtime against the Jets

It was a tale of two teams at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday night. The Calgary Flames looked quite good for the first 10 minutes and last 10 minutes of regulation against the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately, their middle 40 minutes and overtime spelled their undoing in a 5-4 overtime loss.

The home team opened the scoring almost midway through the opening period. The line of Elias Lindholm, Dillon Dube and Spencer Foo spent a lengthy shift in the Jets zone. The Jets and Flames raced for a line change after Winnipeg cleared the zone, but the Flames got back into the Jets zone first. Andrew Mangiapane carried the puck below the goal line and found Juuso Valimaki sneaking in from the point and he beat Laurent Brossoit with a wrister to make it 1-0.

Just over a minute later the Flames scored again, as Ryan Lomberg was sprung into the Jets zone and beat Brossoit with a low wrister to make it 2-0 – it appeared that Brossoit was anticipating a pass into the slot that never materialized.

The Jets answered back with 11 seconds left in the period. The Flames got caught standing around in their own end and Sami Niku took advantage of the screen with a wrist shot that beat Mike Smith to make it 2-1. Shots were 11-6 Flames in the first 20 minutes, scoring chances were 10-2 Flames.

The Jets scored a pair in the second period and did a good job frustrating the Flames in the offensive zone. Early in the period they scored on a power play, as Nikolaj Ehlers beat a screened Smith with a quick shot to make it 2-2. Late in the period the Jets took a 3-2 lead after Niku’s point shot careened off Foo’s skate and beat Smith high. Shots were 10-9 Flames in the second, but scoring chances were 5-5.

The Jets extended their lead to 4-2 early in the third period, as the Flames kept whiffing on clearing attempts. Eventually Jacob Trouba found CJ Suess with a nice pass for a tap-in goal. But the Flames answered back with just over five minutes left in regulation, as Dube fed Mark Giordano a pass on the rush and the captain fired one past Brossoit to make it 4-3.

The locals got the game tied up right after, as Brossoit’s attempted clearing pass was intercepted by Morgan Klimchuk, and Klimchuk wristed it into the open net to make it 4-4. Shots were 17-10 Flames and chances were 12-5 Flames.

And so the ‘Dome was treated to bonus preseason hockey. Ehlers scored his second of the game on the rush 31 seconds into extra time to finish this one at 5-4 for the Jets.

The Flames faded a bit as the game went on, particularly after a power play midway through the first that resulted in zero goals and very little zone time. But they rallied back in the late stages of regulation and managed to salvage at least a moral victory.

Giordano was a minute-muncher all game long and he was a rock on the back end (as you’d expect). Dube, Valimaki and Mangiapane all also had their moments and factored into the game in key ways.

Giordano’s goal with around five minutes left in regulation really gave the Flames some daylight, and the Jets couldn’t get anything going until the game was all tied up.

Dube led Flames forwards in even strength ice time and only Lindholm played more overall among Flames forwards.

This was the third time in seven games the Flames have gone to overtime in the preseason (and the second time against the Jets). They’ve lost all three games that went long.

The Flames are back at it tomorrow night with their final preseason game of this year when they’ll host the San Jose Sharks at the Saddledome.