Post-Game: Flames cruise to exhibition win over Jets

The Calgary Flames dressed their opening night lineup, give or take a player or two, in Tuesday’s tuneup against the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets, conversely, did not. The Flames looked every bit the better team in a fairly one-sided, if sloppy, 2-0 exhibition win over Winnipeg.

The opening period of this game – and really much of its first half – was rather blah. The Flames had four minutes of power play time early on after Tucker Poolman clipped Dillon Dube with a high stick. They generated five shots and didn’t score. The entire period was rather choppy and sloppy, with both clubs struggling to make plays and passes. Shots were 7-6 Flames, but 5-2 Jets at even strength.

The second period remained a bit sloppy. But another Flames power play finally broke the deadlock. Sean Monahan deflected a Johnny Gaudreau wrister in the high slot, redirecting it past Eric Comrie to make it 1-0 Flames.

Just 33 seconds later, Mikael Backlund and Sam Bennett took advantage of some gaps in the Jets defense. Backlund wheeled out from behind the net and found Bennett cutting across the top of the crease for a quick pass and a tap-in to make it 2-0 Flames.

Shots were 13-4 Flames in the second period.

The Flames had some chances in the third period, but were largely content just to maintain possession and run out the clock.

They dressed NHL players.

Yeah, it’s simplistic, but the Jets were pretty much out-gunned in every game situation because the Flames were able to field superior players in each situation.

We have to go with Gaudreau. While he couldn’t bury some of his chances, and seemed to be fighting the puck for much of the proceedings, he was constantly involved in the action and really could’ve had a half-dozen goals had he any puck luck.

It’s hard to overcome allowing two goals in 33 seconds when you’re the road team in a pre-season game. That’s what the Jets did late in the second period, and the Flames were able to lock things down from there.

The Flames entered the evening 2-for-16 on the power play on the pre-season. They went 1-for-4, slightly upping their success rate.

The special teams units, for the curious:

The Flames practice on Wednesday, then head off to the Bay Area on Thursday for a pre-season contest with the San Jose Sharks.