Post-Game: Flames out-gun Golden Knights

The Calgary Flames halted their losing skid at four games with an impressive performance on Sunday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome. In a battle with big playoff implications, they out-gunned the Vegas Golden Knights by a 6-3 score.

The Flames got on the scoreboard early, ending a goal drought that dated back to the middle of their loss in Vegas last week. At the tail end of a really strong shift from the fourth line, the Golden Knights thought they had left the zone and went for a change. But the puck was swatted and kept onside, which allowed Garnet Hathaway to spring Andrew Mangiapane in on his lonesome. One deke later and the Flames had a 1-0 lead.

A few minutes later the Flames doubled their cushion, as Mikael Backlund strode into the Vegas zone and put a puck on net. His shot beat Subban low on his blocker side, just inside the post, to make it a 2-0 Flames lead.

Vegas spoiled David Rittich’s shutout bid rather early. Alex Tuch chased down a Vegas dump into the Flames zone. He waited and found Brandon Pirri out front for a bang-bang play and Pirri roofed the puck past Rittich to cut Calgary’s lead to 2-1.

Late in the period, a shot block by Mark Giordano sprang Michael Frolik and Matthew Tkachuk on a two-on-one rush. Frolik showed a ton of patience, waiting until both the goaltender and defender bit before shuffling the puck over to Tkachuk for a tap-in that made it a 3-1 game.

Shots were 14-8 Flames and scoring chances 10-5 Flames in the first period.

The Golden Knights battled back to kick off the second period. With TJ Brodie caught up ice, Vegas’ top line executed a nice passing sequence that ended with a Reilly Smith goal that made it 3-2 just 21 seconds in.. They tied things up 59 seconds later, after Mark Stone buried a Paul Stastny feed to make it 3-3.

But Rasmus Andersson drew a tripping penalty and set up the go-ahead goal on the ensuing power play. His slapper was tipped by Backlund out front to make it 4-3 Flames with 22 seconds left in the period. The Golden Knights challenged the goal on the basis of goalie interference, but it was ruled that Backlund didn’t impede Subban’s ability to play the position – Subban tried to use his glove hand, but Backlund’s body and butt were in the way.

Subban received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the horn for disputing the call to referee Dan O’Halloran.

Shots were 14-8 Flames and chances were 9-9 in the second.

The Golden Knights pressed throughout the third period to try to tie up the game, but Backlund found Tkachuk with another patient pass for a chip-in goal to make it 5-3 Flames late in the period.

Tkachuk added an empty netter late to complete his hat trick and ice this one at 6-3 Flames.

Shots were 12-7 Golden Knights and scoring chances were 12-6 Golden Knights in the third period.

The Flames were energetic throughout this game, but the big key was they tended to avoid running around in their own zone too much. They executed much more effectively in all three zones than they have in several games, to boot.

It’s a collective nod to the 3M line. All three players combined for 11 points – Tkachuk had a hat trick and an assist, Backlund had two goals and an assist, while Frolik had four assists – and they were dangerous offensively and stingy defensively.

Stick-tap to Johnny Gaudreau, who had nine shots.

Backlund’s go-ahead goal late in the second period was huge. It was a late goal, something that tends to swing momentum, but it also led to a Vegas penalty after Subban’s protests fell on deaf ears.

This was Austin Czarnik’s 100th NHL game.

Backlund’s multi-point effort pushed him past the 40 point mark for the season. He’s had 40 or more points in each of his past four seasons.

The Flames (42-20-7) are back in action on Tuesday night when they host the New Jersey Devils.