Post-Game: Flames poised in win over Maple Leafs

The Calgary Flames tangled with the skilled Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night in Toronto. They stuck to the program and were rewarded with a 3-1 victory at Scotiabank Arena.

The first two periods featured no goals, but a fair bit of good hockey. The Flames out-shot Toronto 12-5 in the first period and 12-11 in the second, with the Leafs waking up a bit in the middle frame. Calgary out-chanced Toronto 11-2 in the first, but the Leafs had a 13-8 edge in the second.

The Leafs almost scored at the tail-end of the second period, but the clock ran out before the puck went in so the game remained scoreless.

The Flames broke the deadlock five minutes into the third period after Rasmus Andersson drew a penalty. Elias Lindholm’s initial shot was stopped by Frederik Andersen, but Sean Monahan jammed home the rebound to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.

55 seconds later, the Flames forecheck caught the Leafs off-guard and led to another goal. Some pressure by Johnny Gaudreau led to a bad Morgan Rielly pass to Mitch Marner. Marner coughed the puck up to Monahan, who passed it low to Gaudreau, who found Lindholm wandering into the slot for a one-timer to make it 2-0 Flames.

The Flames got in a bit of penalty trouble that led to Toronto’s lone goal. They killed off a two-man disadvantage with both Matthew Tkachuk and Mark Giordano in the box, but Nazem Kadri went high on a sprawling Mike Smith to make it 2-1 Flames just one second after the five-on-three was killed off.

The Leafs thought they tied the game late, but it turned out that they shot the puck and it landed on the outside of the net. Michael Frolik added an empty-netter to make it a 3-1 Flames victory. Shots were 10-10 in the third and chances were 8-6 Leafs.

This was arguably their best 60 minutes of hockey all season. They played measured, smart hockey in all three zones, and didn’t waver even after they got tons of early chances and couldn’t score through two periods.

In a building that’s been tough for them in recent years, they played a smart, composed road game and entered the third period with a chance to get two points. They won the third and earned the points.

Gaudreau was dynamic on this evening, making nice plays in the offensive zone. He was stymied at times by the Leafs defenders, but also made a gorgeous pass to Lindholm on the Flames’ second goal.

To be honest, few Flames had bad evenings. It was a solid team game by most measures.

After pushing for the better part of 45 minutes, the dam burst for the Flames five minutes into the third period. They managed two goals in the span of 55 seconds and were able to keep chugging away from there.

This was the Flames’ first victory in Toronto since January 2011. Mikael Backlund and Mark Giordano are the only players remaining from the Flames lineup that night.

The Flames limited Toronto to just 8 high danger scoring chances – per our friends at Natural Stat Trick. In every game where the Flames have kept their high danger chances allowed to single digits, they’ve earned points – they’re 3-0-1 in those four games.

The Flames (6-5-1) head off to scenic Buffalo, New York tonight. They visit the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow evening.