Post-Game: Flames grind out a win against Columbus

The Calgary Flames inched closer to a division win on Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome. They were good, lucky, and occasionally both as they grinded out a 4-2 victory over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.

The visitors were the better team early, and ended up opening the scoring. The Flames had a power play but couldn’t generate much. Following the advantage, the Flames got caught in neutral zone and the Jackets jumped into the offensive zone with a two-on-one. Zach Werenski opted to shoot and beat David Rittich low blocker side to make it 1-0 Jackets.

The Flames tied it up midway through the period, though. They weren’t able to score on an initial odd-man rush from Johnny Gaudreau and Derek Ryan, but Ryan retrieved the puck off the rebound and found Gaudreau in the slot with a nice pass from the far corner and Gaudreau buried a wrist shot to make it a 1-1 game.

Columbus pressed in the latter stages of the first period, getting a couple odd-man rushes and hitting a couple posts via some scrambley defensive play by the Flames. But the Flames got a late scoring chance with the clock running down, as Mark Jankowski found Andrew Mangiapane in front of the net and the Flames winger double-clutched on the backhand before putting the puck past a lunging Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.

Shots were 14-9 Flames and scoring chances 10-8 Flames in the opening period.

The Flames got a bit of insurance early in the second period after Michael Frolik scored himself a goal. Sensing the Columbus skaters looking a bit flat-footed, Frolik took a pass from TJ Brodie and simply strode into the zone, deked around a couple players and beat Bobrovsky to make it 3-1 for the home side.

The Blue Jackets nearly cut into the Flames’ lead on the power play, as the locals got running around a bit in their own end. But Mark Giordano made a big save on a Columbus scoring chance and somehow kept the puck out.

Shots were 12-11 Blue Jackets in the second, while scoring chances were 11-10 Blue Jackets.

Columbus finally got one back five minutes into the third period on a power play. After the Flames stifled their top unit, the second group jumped on the ice and Oliver Bjorkstrand strode in on the right side of the zone and fired a wrist shot that beat Rittich over his glove side shoulder (short side) to cut the Flames lead to 3-2.

The visitors pressed late in the game, but Matthew Tkachuk notched an empty net goal with 51 seconds remaining to finish this one off with a 4-2 score for a Flames victory.

Shots were 12-6 Blue Jackets and chances 9-6 Blue Jackets in the third period.

The Flames played a desperate team while missing two of their top nine forwards. But give the locals a ton of credit: they played smart, composed two-way hockey. They didn’t take a ton of unnecessary chances, but they got their lead and then did their best to slow the Jackets down and make them play their style of game.

It was a weird game, though. The Flames got a few big shot blocks, the Jackets hit a few posts at key times, and the home side just found a way to be a little bit better than Columbus when they needed to be.

Let’s jointly honour the new-look third line of Mangiapane, Czarnik and Mark Jankowski. They were dangerous all game long.

Take your pick:

This game was Giordano’s 826th played as a Flame, tying Robyn Regehr for second on the franchise’s all-time leaderboard.

Noah Hanifin left the game midway through the second period after blocking a shot off the side of his head. He skated off under his own power, missed the remainder of the second period, but returned for the third.

With their victory, the Flames have clinched one of the three divisional spots in the Pacific Division. The Arizona Coyotes, fourth in the division, cannot catch them in the standings.

The Flames (45-21-7) are in action again on Thursday when they host the Ottawa Senators.