Post-Game: Flames Flatten Kings

The Calgary Flames came into Los Angeles on a bit of a slide, having lost three of their previous four games. They made a few lineup shuffles, notably slotting in rookie netminder Jon Gillies in for Brian Elliott, and they were full marks in a 4-1 victory over the Kings.

After the emotion and physicality of their previous meeting with the Kings, this game was rather emotionless and tactical. In other words: it was the game the Flames seemingly needed to get back on track.

The Flames had a decent first. They skated well and didn’t have their habitual defensive zone collapses like they’ve had in recent weeks. On an early power play, the “first” (Johnny Gaudreau) unit couldn’t bury anything but the second (Mikael Backlund) unit had a really nice passing sequence that ended in a goal. Sam Bennett capped it off with a one-timer off a nice feed from Backlund to make it 1-0.

That lead didn’t last too long, though, as Trevor Lewis beat Jon Gillies glove-side on the rush to make it 1-1. Shots were 11-7 Kings in the first, though the Flames had the more dangerous chances.

The road team had to kill off an early penalty, but Dennis Wideman made up for his minor by stepping out of the box and beating Ben Bishop on a breakaway to make it 2-1.

A few minutes later, the “players usually scratched scoring goals” tour continued as Freddie Hamilton capped off a really nice shift for the fourth line with a wrap-around goal to make it 3-1.

The most consistent Flames line over the past month (Alex Chiasson, Kris Versteeg and Sam Bennett) converted on the final goal of this game, as Chiasson slid into the slot and tipped it past Bishop to make it 4-1.

Shots were 10-9 Flames in the second.

Neither team scored in the third, and for the most part it seemed like both teams going through the motions. The Kings seemed defeated. The Flames seemed content to avoid injury and mistakes. Shots were 8-7 Kings.

The Flames were a little bit better than the Kings in basically every area that they needed to be. Their penalty kill was sharp. Their power play scored a goal. They were crisp at even strength. Their top players were pretty good, despite a few of their lines getting hammered possessi0n-wise (see below). And their goaltender was better than the Kings’ goaltender, which always helps.

The Hamilton wrap-around goal put the Flames up by a pair and shielded them from a potential bad bounce against their rookie goalie tying things up. They never looked back.

Playing in his first NHL game, Gillies settled down nicely after giving up his first goal and made 27 saves. Some of ’em were pretty nice.

The Flames (45-32-4) practice tomorrow in San Jose and then close out their regular season on Saturday night against the Sharks.

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