Post-Game: Flames understudies wallop Kings

The Calgary Flames came into Los Angeles on the back half of a back-to-back. They scratched six regulars. They demolished the Los Angeles Kings by a 7-2 score in a very one-sided game at Staples Center.

The Flames took the lead early in the first period. Oliver Kylington’s point shot clanged off Jonathan Quick’s past. The rebound went right to Derek Ryan, who chipped the puck over top of the sprawling Quick as he was being hauled down to give the Flames a 1-0 advantage.

Kyle Clifford tied things up for the Kings roughly midway through the period. Off the rush, he took a drop pass from Ilya Kovalchuk and his wrister from the top of the slot (with some bodies in-between) eluded David Rittich’s glove to make it 1-1.

The Flames regained the lead while they were announcing Clifford’s goal. Trevor Lewis swatted the puck away from Mark Jankowski at the side of the net and Sam Bennett deflected Lewis’ sliding puck past Quick to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.

The Kings tied things up late in the period, though. With 40 seconds left on the clock, Dustin Brown buried a Drew Doughty pass deep in the Flames’ zone and put it past Rittich to make it 2-2.

Shots were 10-8 Flames in the first period, while chances were 7-7.

The Flames regained their lead midway in the second period. Off the rush with James Neal and Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau attacked the offensive zone. Nearly straddling the goal line beside the Kings net, he faked a pass across the crease to Neal and instead went top shelf from the bad angle to make it 3-2 Flames.

Shots were 11-5 Kings and scoring chances 5-4 Flames in the second period.

The Flames added a pair early in the third period to really put things out of reach. 13 seconds into the period, Mark Jankowski chucked the puck at the net from the far corner and Neal redirected it past Quick to make it 4-2 Flames.

A couple minutes later the Kings attempted to break out of their own zone, but Rasmus Andersson intercepted the puck, passed to Neal, and Neal put the puck in the slot for a redirect from Ryan to make it 5-2 Flames.

Midway through the period Michael Stone’s point shot went wide, but Juuso Valimaki collected it and fed Andrew Mangiapane. His wrist shot ramped off Drew Doughty’s stick and beat Quick to make it 6-2.

Right off the following faceoff, Alan Quine stripped the puck from a Kings defender, passed to Austin Czarnik, who passed to Jankowski. His backhander off the rush beat Quick to make it 7-2 and chase Quick from the game.

Shots were 15-6 Flames and chances 12-5 Flames in the final period.

The Flames seemed to be finding their legs in the first two periods, but they really went for the jugular in the third period. They found their killer instinct after buzzing around the net for much of the game.

But give them credit: they were rock-solid away from the puck as well, despite scratching their  top four defensemen, plus Matthew Tkachuk and Mikael Backlund. The understudies were more than up to the challenge of increased roles.

Jankowski had three points, so let’s give him the nod. But a lot of players in white sweaters had good nights.

The pair of Flames goals early in the third period really allowed the visitors to pull away. The other two goals in the game added insult to injury.

Bennett, playing his first game in awhile due to an upper body injury, left the game at the end of the second period after taking a hit from Kurtis MacDermid. MacDermid’s shoulder caught Bennett under the chin, and the Flames forward was extremely wobbly getting up and was helped off the ice by a trainer. He did not return.

Rittich registered his 27th victory of the season, the most for a Flames goaltender in a single season since Miikka Kiprusoff’s retirement.

The Flames dressed eight homegrown draft picks in this game. All eight of them registered at least one point.

The Flames (50-23-7) are back in action on Wednesday night when they visit the Anaheim Ducks.