Post-Game: Flames hold on to cool the Jets

Several times this season, the Calgary Flames have had to claw their way into a game after chasing the opposition. For the second time in as many games, they spotted themselves an early lead and held on. On Wednesday night they beat the Winnipeg Jets by a 6-3 score.

The Flames were caught off-guard early, as Brandon Tanev scored 15 seconds into the contest. He caught Austin Czarnik a bit flat-footed, managing to get both an initial shot and grab his own rebound to beat Davd Rittich. That gave Winnipeg an early 1-0 lead.

But less than two minutes later, the Flames answered back after a strong shift from their fourth line. Mark Jankowski found Dillon Dube with a pass from below the goal line and the rookie jammed the puck home to make it 1-1.

A few minutes later the Flames took the lead on a very smart play by Matthew Tkachuk. Connor Hellebuyck lost his stick on a prior scoring chance and the Jets defenders whiffed on an attempted clear, putting the puck on Tkachuk’s stick on the right side of the slot. Recognizing that Hellebuyck had no stick, Tkachuk passed to Sam Bennett on the left side of the slot and his wrister beat the Jets netminder to make it 2-1 Flames.

The Flames made it 3-1 off another smart play. Tkachuk noticed a line change for the Jets and merely went for a skate through the neutral zone. He uncorked a wrist shot from just inside the Jets blueline that eluded Hellebuyck to extended the Calgary lead to two goals.

That goal spelled the end of Hellebuyck’s evening, as he was relieved by backup Laurent Brossoit. Mark Jankowski made it 4-1 shortly thereafter, going for a wrap-around and having his shot glance into the net off Tyler Myers’ skate.

Late in the period, Gaudreau scored with a wrist shot off the rush to make it 5-1 Flames.

Shots were 14-9 Flames and scoring chances 11-4 Flames in the opening period.

The Flames sat back a bit in the second period, as the Jets came out angry – like a team who were down four goals after 20 minutes. They had three big penalty kills in the period, but Patrik Laine scored off a one-timer just after the third penalty expired late in the period to cut the Calgary lead to 5-2.

Shots were 17-3 Jets and chances 10-3 Jets.

The Jets cut the lead to 5-3 Flames off another Laine one-timer, this time on a power play. Elias Lindholm nearly cleared the puck out of the Flames zone, but his stick exploded as he swung to clear the zone. The puck stayed in, Lindholm scampered off to grab a replacement stick from the bench, and in that short time window Laine corked one past Rittich.

The Jets nearly made it 5-4, but the goal was called back due to goaltender interference – a Jets player cut across the top of the Flames crease and took Rittich’s foot out from under him immediately before the shot. The Jets challenged the no-goal call, but the call stood and the game remained 5-3.

But that’s as close as the Jets managed to get. Derek Ryan added an empty-netter to make it a 6-3 final. Shots were 14-9 Jets and chances were 7-6 Flames in the third period.

This was basically two games for the Flames. The Jets were jumpy and fairly porous defensively in the first period and the Flames took advantage of every defensive lapse. In the other two periods the Jets played hungry, desperate hockey. The Flames weren’t amazing defensively – once score effects have hold of you, it’s hard to break free of them – but they got good enough goaltending when they needed it to eke this one out.

Let’s go with Rittich, who was the most consistently good Flames player overall. Honourable mention to the fourth line of Jankowski, Hathaway and Dube, who did a surprisingly good job generating scoring chances against the Jets.

Tkachuk’s wrist shot goal chased Hellebuyck from the game and gave the Flames some much-needed breathing room, ensuring a bad bounce wouldn’t make things close.

And let’s not discount the goal review on the disallowed fourth Jets goal. It gave the Flames a bit of time to reset when they were running around a bit in their own end.

The Flames received five first period goals from five different players (representing four different draft classes).

Bennett left the game briefly in the third period after blocking a shot with his right arm. He returned to the game, though.

The Flames (13-8-1) practice tomorrow, then head off to scenic Las Vegas. They play the Vegas Golden Knights with an early 4 p.m. MT Black Friday start on Friday afternoon.