Post-Game: Flames stick with it, beat Vancouver

The Calgary Flames allowed the first goal on Saturday night, something that’s happened 17 times this season. Sometimes allowing the first goal discombobulates the team and sometimes it sparks them. They also had a close penalty sequence break against them and result in a power play goal against, something that also often deflates them.

But playing a big home game on Hockey Night in Canada against a divisional rival that they entered the night tied with in the Pacific Division standings, the Flames instead pushed back. Despite trailing on a few occasions, the Flames kept with it and managed to beat the Vancouver Canucks by a 4-2 score.

Continuing a recent tradition of poor starts, the Flames went down early at home. Just two minutes in, the fourth line got bunched up at their own blueline trying to halt a Michael del Zotto shot. The shot got through and Mike Smith made the initial save, but the rebound went right to Jake Virtanen for an easy goal over top of Smith to make it 1-0. The Flames had a couple power plays in the first, but they were awful – the Canucks had more scoring chances on the Flames’ PPs than the Flames did. Calgary tied it up late in the period, though, as Curtis Lazar snatched a loose puck inside his own zone and broke out on a two-on-one rush with Troy Brouwer. Brouwer buried the one-time feed to make it 1-1.

Shots were 16-12 Flames and scoring chances were 10-7 Flames.

The middle frame was a bit sloppy and sleepy, as both teams exchanged rushes here and there but neither really generated high-quality scoring chances. Late in the period, the Canucks got a break as Mark Giordano deftly out-deked Brock Boeser inside Vancouver’s blueline but the duo got tangled up, Giordano got hauled down, and the Flames captain ended up with a minor for holding the stick. Nobody in red was happy, and they were less happy when Boeser scored on a nice give-and-go sequence with Markus Granlund to put Vancouver up 2-1. Shots were 8-7 Flames and scoring chances were 6-3 Flames.

The locals entered the third period down a goal. They seemed to sit back for the first six or seven minutes of the period, but then they started to press – it was as if they wanted to see what the Canucks would do with their lead. The Flames had a bunch of nice scoring chances, but couldn’t solve Nilsson. Well, until they finally did midway through the third. After an aborted rush into the Canucks zone, the puck bounced into the corner. Garnet Hathaway chased it down, chucked a pass through some bodies into the slot and found Matthew Tkachuk in the slot. Tkachuk couldn’t quite get a forehand shot off, so he swapped to his backhand and chipped the puck over Nilsson’s shoulder to tie the game at 2-2.

The Flames have been victimized by late goals often this year. Tonight, they victimized Vancouver off a really nice workmanlike shift from the Jankowski line. After a scramble in front that contained perhaps three good scoring chances – complete with Nilsson spinning around like a top without much comprehension of where the puck or his net was – the puck shot back into the corner. The Flames retrieved the puck, cycled the puck, and then Sam Bennett drove to the slot and backhanded the puck past Nilsson to make it 3-2.

Tkachuk added an empty-netter with 23 seconds left to ice it at 4-2. Shots were 11-5 Flames and scoring chances were 9-2 Flames.

For roughly four games in a row, the Flames have played well. Their puck management may occasionally cause ulcers, but generally-speaking they have the puck much more often than their opponent and drive play. The Flames have been undone at times by bounces that went against them. The Giordano penalty and the Boeser goal was completely a situation that I expected to swing the game away from the Flames. Instead of letting it deflate them, the Flames seemed to allow it to fuel their anger.

The last 10 minutes of this game was perhaps the best 10 minutes this team has played this season. Their middle-six forwards grabbed hold of the game and wouldn’t let go, and as a result the team managed to win a game despite their power play (and first line) looking largely invisible for the duration.

Tkachuk scored a pair, including the key game-tying goal, so let’s go with him. But you could throw a dart at the depth players on this team – please don’t, it’s not safe – and hit somebody that played pretty well.

The home side pushed hard in the third, but Tkachuk’s (first) goal to tie this one seemed to poke a hole in the Canucks’ defensive dam and Nilsson’s ability to find his net. Water started pouring out from there.

Five different players had multi-point games and Jon Gillies made 28 saves as Stockton beat Tucson 5-2 to leap-frog into first place in the AHL’s Pacific Division. Morgan Klimchuk scored the eventual game-winner shorthanded in the first period.

Adam Ruzicka scored his 20th goal of the season as Sarnia beat Peterborough 3-1. (He scored all of last season.) Dillon Dube scored his 18th goal of the season but Kelowna lost to Brandon 7-4. Glenn Gawdin scored his 26th goal of the season (and added an assist) in Swift Current’s 3-2 win over Red Deer. Zach Fischer had two goals for Spokane in their 9-2 drubbing of Seattle. And D’Artagnan Joly had a goal and two assists in Baie-Comeau’s 6-0 win over Shawinigan.

“I thought we were better tonight in our mindset. But listen… I went and said this today, go back to Philly, we were doing the right things we just weren’t getting results. Now we’re getting results. But for me, looking at this team and knowing it like I do, we are growing.” – Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan on his team’s approach to this “big game.”

The Flames (16-12-2) are off tomorrow, then prepare for a quick trip to the Twin Cities; they visit the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday evening.