Post-Game: Flames ground Jets

The Calgary Flames headed to Winnipeg on Thursday night to kick off the post-holiday portion of their schedule. Despite a sleepy start to the game, the Flames got timely goals and strong goaltending en route to a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.

The Flames looked like they were working off the turkey dinner early, as they seemed overwhelmed by the speed of the Jets. Luckily for them, David Rittich was dialed in. Nobody scored, but the Jets were sharp. They out-shot the Flames 14-7 and out-chanced them 9-3.

But the Flames scored a pair of goals in the second period – one early and one late – to grab hold of the game. Sean Monahan sprung Johnny Gaudreau into the offensive zone on an odd-man rush. Patrik Laine attempted to block Gaudreau’s pass, but his block deflected the puck past Connor Hellebuyck to make it 1-0 Flames.

Later in the period a lapse in concentration tied the game up. After the Flames were hemmed into their own end and iced the puck, Alan Quine tried to pass the puck to Mark Giordano to clear the zone. But Adam Lowry was located in-between them in the high slot, and he wristed the puck past David Rittich to make it 1-1.

But the Flames answered back 56 seconds later. Monahan and Elias Lindholm back-checked in the Jets zone and made them cough up the puck in their own zone. Gaudreau and Lindholm combined for a crazy give-and-go, ending with Gaudreau tapping a puck past Hellebuyck to make it 2-1 Flames.

Shots were 13-11 Flames and scoring chances 13-11 Jets.

The Jets pressed early in the third period, but the Flames got many saves from Rittich. Derek Ryan took a penalty midway through the period, but Mark Jankowski scored on the ensuing Jets power play to make it 3-1 Flames. (It’s the 10th short-handed goal of the season for the Flames.)

Gaudreau completed the hat trick with an empty netter late, though he received a slash from Dustin Byfuglien. That goal made it 4-1 Flames.

Shots were 11-8 Jets and chances were 7-2 Jets.

Their goalie was better than Winnipeg’s goalie and their offensive players were better than Winnipeg’s offensive players. Neither team was amazingly sharp, but the Flames were better in each game situation and were good enough to capture two key points.

It’s gotta be Rittich. He made 35 saves, many of them timely, and one of them that was absolutely mesmerizing.

The top line of Gaudreau, Monahan and Lindholm were also really sharp.

The Jets were pressing throughout the first chunk of the third period, but Jankowski’s shortie really deflated them. They looked like they could get a second goal, but getting more than a couple past Rittich seemed like too tall an order for them.

This was Mark Giordano’s 791st career game (tying him with Theoren Fleury for fourth on the Flames all-time franchise leaderboard). It was also Mikael Backlund’s 577th career game (tying him with Joe Nieuwendyk for 11th on the all-time leaderboard).

The Flames (23-12-3) head home tonight. They practice tomorrow and host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.