Post-Game: Flames go the distance against Capitals

The Calgary Flames looked really bad on Thursday night at home. On Saturday afternoon they looked much better against the Washington Capitals, pushing the defending Stanley Cup champions to a shootout. They lost 4-3 in a very close contest.

The first period saw a few momentum swings in each direction. The Capitals were on their heels early but were opportunistic. The Flames cheated a bit on their assignments on a defensive zone breakout, resulting in a couple whiffed zone exits and a turnover inside their own blueline. That allowed Evgeni Kuznetsov and Jakub Vrana to go in on an in-close two-on-one. Kuznetsov set up Vrana for a tap-in to make it 1-0 Capitals.

Later in the period, with Derek Ryan in the penalty box, Mike Smith made a save on Alex Ovechkin’s patented spot from the right side of the zone, but TJ Oshie drove the net and chipped in the rebound to make it 2-0. But on the very next shift, 14 seconds later, the Flames tied it up. Travis Hamonic drove the zone, made a pass to Sam Bennett and headed towards the net. Bennett passed to Johnny Gaudreau, who sent it to Hamonic for a deflection off his skate to make it 2-1.

Juuso Valimaki drew a penalty in the defensive zone and the Flames power play capitalized. They won the draw, made some nice passes, and then Elias Lindholm beat Pheonix Copley five-hole as he moved laterally to face Lindholm to make it 2-2. The goal was just nine seconds into the PP.

Shots were 10-9 Capitals, but chances were 7-6 Flames.

The second period was more buttoned-down defensively, but both teams got power play opportunities. The Capitals got a big scoring chance after they killed off a penalty, but Smith made a big save on an Oshie breakaway immediately afterwards to keep the game tied.

But the Capitals got one late, as Matt Niskanen’s point shot beat Smith through a couple layers of traffic – including Dmitrij Jaskin right in front – to make it 3-2. Shots were 8-6 Capitals and chances were 9-6 Capitals.

The Capitals seemed content to clog up the neutral zone and ice the puck when they got into any defensive zone trouble in the third period. The Flames pressed and pulled the goaltender with 2:31 remaining and were rewarded. Rasmus Andersson’s shot from the point was redirected by Matthew Tkachuk to tie the game at 3-3 with 1:27 left in regulation.

The Flames generated a late power play but couldn’t score in regulation. Shots were 11-8 Flames and chances were 5-5.

Much of overtime was played at four-on-four following a brief Flames power play. Both teams got good looks, but neither managed to score so it went to a shootout. Johnny Gaudreau scored for the Flames but Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom scored for Washington to win it.

The Flames played smart hockey for the most part and got pretty good goaltending, but they were still a bit too leaky defensively against a team with enough offensive weaponry to make teams pay for any gaffes. And when they trailed, they didn’t cheat their defensive responsibilities enough to give the Capitals too many additional chances.

Let’s go with Gaudreau, who had assists on both of Calgary’s goals this afternoon. But Smith made some big saves and Dillon Dube had oodles of scoring chances, including one that hit the post midway through the third period.

Tkachuk’s late goal, tipping Andersson’s low point shot, managed to secure the Flames a point in a game that they trailed for most of the duration.

James Neal was blasted along the boards from behind by Nic Dowd in the first period. He left the bench for a little bit for evaluation, but stayed in the game.

By playing in his 10th NHL game, Valimaki’s entry-level deal began to kick in tonight. He joins Filip Chytil (Ottawa), Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo), Maxime Comtois (Anaheim), Henri Jokiharju (Chicago) and Andrei Svechnikov (Carolina) as young players that could’ve seen their deals slide but have ended up playing 10+ NHL games this season.

As has become tradition, Bill Peters shuffled the deck a bit while trailing in the third period:

The Flames (5-5-1) practice tomorrow, then hop on a plane to Toronto. They visit the Maple Leafs on Monday night at Scotiabank Arena.