Post-Game: Flames win wacky New Year’s Eve goalfest

You figured that the third and sixth highest scoring teams in the league would give us some fireworks on New Year’s Eve. 8-5, though?

The team came out hot, taking just 70 seconds to find the back of the net. Despite the 3M line having been dismantled for the past month or so, the chemistry had not disappeared. Michael Frolik fed it to Matthew Tkachuk below the net, who snuck it between two defenders to Mikael Backlund for the goal.

The lead didn’t last that long, however. About five minutes later, Travis Hamonic lost track of Lukas Radil, who put one past David Rittich after being left all alone in front of the net.

But the 3M line made magic happen again. Almost immediately off the faceoff, a Tkachuk blast from the point was tipped by Frolik, and then tipped by Backlund, and then into the net.

But the Flames weren’t done quite yet. A tripping penalty by Erik Karlsson put the Flames on a powerplay, and they actually scored on it. Mark Giordano blasted through traffic, and Matthew Tkachuk just got the tip of his stick on it to put the Flames up two.

Shots were 11-9 for the Sharks in the first period, but chances were 10-8 for the Flames.

The Sharks came out with a bit more bite in the second period, controlling the flow of play for the first few minutes of the period. They were eventually rewarded on the powerplay, as Brett Burns’ cannon of a slapshot beat an unscreened Rittich.

The Sharks continued to pile on the pressure, but eventually got in their own way as Melker Karlsson took a holding call. The Flames looked good for parts of the powerplay, but didn’t make it count until the very last moment, where some pretty passing from the first unit set up a beautiful Tkachuk goal, his 17th of the year.

From there on out, things just got nutty. The Flames got some momentum going after their second powerplay goal of the evening, and snakebitten Sam Bennett appeared to pick up his seventh goal of the season after a scramble near the Sharks goalmouth. The universe doesn’t let Bennett have nice things, as we all know, and Peter DeBoer successfully challenged it on the basis of goalie interference. It was a questionable decision by the review centre, to say the least.

Bill Peters was not happy.

The overturned goal killed the Flames momentum, and San Jose made good on their chance at redemption. Sean Monahan whiffed on a defensive zone pass, giving the puck directly to the Sharks, who put it directly into the net via Joonas Donskoi.

However, the Flames would not be deterred from picking up their fifth goal. A streaking Johnny Gaudreau snuck past the Sharks, zoomed into the offensive zone, held up and waited for a trailing Elias Lindholm, who made no mistake on his career high 18th goal of the season:

The second period ended 5-3. Shots and chances both went in favour of San Jose, 13-7 and 14-9 respectively.

The third began disastrously, as the Sharks brought it back to within one after the team once again forgot about the guy in front of the net. Donskoi put home his second of the night with ease.

But the goals weren’t done yet. Bennett, a little peeved after having his first goal called off, did some fancy moves and set up James Neal’s shinpads for a goal. Neal was clearly not expecting to score this way, but given the way his season has gone, he’ll take it.

Not taking any chances with a two goal lead, the Flames kept pouring it on. They quickly added another one as Gaudreau’s shot took some odd bounces and found its way past Dell, who was clearly out of ideas at this point.

Not even a minute later, an unattended Gaudreau doubled his goal total.

After goal number eight, the game started getting chippy. Somehow, Gaudreau was the one who managed to get a slashing call, and the Sharks capitalized on a Joe Thornton powerplay marker. The Flames had built up enough of a lead that it didn’t really matter, and the game ended 8-5.

But not without some rough stuff. Tkachuk punched a deserving Evander Kane in the face, earning a misconduct in the process. Bennett gave Radim Simek a hard late hit and then had to discuss the hit with Barclay Goodrow. He might face some supplemental discipline.

Shots were 11-9 for the Flames in the third period, and scoring chances also went their way at 11-7. Overall, the Sharks outshot the Flames 33-27, but the Flames won the chances battle 31-29.

As basic as it sounds, they scored more goals than the other team. The Flames were pretty leaky defensively, no questions about it, but they made up for their defensive lapses by punishing the Sharks when they made their mistakes. They kept their foot on the pedal, which in turn kept the ever-threatening Sharks at bay.

It’s been a maxim throughout the season, but there were plenty of moments during tonight’s game where the 2017-18 Flames would’ve certainly buckled and seen the scoreline go the opposite way. Seeing the game through to the end has been the Flames’ bread and butter this season.

There’s plenty of deserving candidates. The 3M line got the game off to a great start. The Purple Reign line didn’t have a great defensive night, but they more than certainly made up for it. If this is a group award, I give it to the entire top six.

If I had to pick one individual, it was Sam Bennett. He didn’t put up the numbers other players did, but he was going at full tilt all night even when the mysterious forces of the universe and its irrational hate for Bennett kept trying to hold him down. His overzealous approach to the violence that marred the last half of the third period might earn him a call from player safety, but excluding that, he had a great game.

Obviously the Sam Bennett no-goal. It was a pretty conventional hockey game up until that point, and then things just started getting wacky.

There was a confusing moment at the end of the first period when Elias Lindholm quite clearly high-sticked Timo Meier. The refs sent Lindholm to the box, then took him out of the box as if the penalty was cancelled, and then put him back in. Not entirely sure what was going on there. They were pretty brutal tonight, missing a lot of slashing calls (but what else is new).

Michael Frolik’s Cy Young case went out the window, as he picked up his first and second assists of the year. He now stands at seven goals and two assists. His first was also his 200th of his career.

Aaron Dell was a bit upset over letting in eight goals, so he speared Bennett in an area that reduces the likelihood of Sam Bennett Jr ever playing for the Flames.

As noted on the broadcast, Rittich’s right knee appeared to be giving him problems. It doesn’t look serious, but we’ll see how they handle the goalies in the immediate future.

This win ended a six game losing streak against the Sharks.

The Flames will presumably have a well-earned New Year’s celebration, and then it’s off to the east coast for a road trip to defend their #1 spot in the Pacific. Their first stop is in Detroit on January 2nd.