Post-Game: Music to their ears

The Calgary Flames played some flat, uninspired hockey on Tuesday night in Boston. They were out-performed by a very good hockey team. On Thursday night in Nashville, they made up for it. The Flames had jump, had pep and scored some timely goals en route to a 4-3 victory over the Predators at Bridgestone Arena.

The Flames close out their six game road trip by capturing eight of a possible 12 points, keeping themselves very much in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.

The opening frame was pretty even. The Flames took a penalty and killed it off midway through the period, but the Predators kept them hemmed in even after the penalized player returned. Ryan Johansen jammed home a loose rebound to make it 1-0 Nashville. But the Flames answered back before the period was over with a rarity – a power play goal! Seconds into their man advantage, a Mark Giordano point shot careened off Sean Monahan’s pants and dropped in front of the net and Matthew Tkachuk fired home the loose puck to make it 1-1.

 

Shots were 11-7 Flames and scoring chances were 11-6 Flames.

The Flames played a mighty fine road period in the second. They kept scoring chances minimized and got the better of Nashville at even strength. A bouncing puck (and Victor Arvidsson) snuck behind the Flames defense on a four-on-four sequence. The shot hit the post, but T.J. Brodie lost an edge trying to pivot to play the trailing player, Yannick Weber, and Weber scored with the loose puck to make it 2-1. But the Flames got that one back with another rarity – a five-on-three goal. With two Predators in the penalty box, Dougie Hamilton finished off a nice passing sequence with a wrister from the high slot that beat Pekka Rinne to tie the game at 2-2.

Shots were 9-6 Flames and chances 3-1 Flames.

The Flames extended their lead in the third period, then hung on for dear life. Brett Kulak made a nice defensive play and sprung Mark Jankowski, Sam Bennett and Tkachuk on a three-on-two rush. A neat passing sequence ended with Jankowski getting a tap-in to make it 3-2.

A while later, Curtis Lazar got a gift as he lobbed a muffin over Rinne’s glove from just inside the blueline to make it 4-2.

However, the lead was twimmed as David Rittich whiffed on some puck handling and Nick Bonino ended up redirecting the ensuing Pontus Aberg shot to make it 4-3. Dougie Hamilton was levied a late penalty (making the game a six-on-four situation). Glen Gulutzan wasn’t pleased.

But Flames held on for the win. Shots were 17-9 Predators, but chances were even at 6-6.

This was primarily a special teams win, but on this occasion no aspects of their game were out-and-out bad. They were out-scored 3-2 at even strength, though one goal was at the tail-end of a power play, one goal was a result of Brodie blowing a tire, and one goal was Rittich whiffing on some puck-handling. Systemically, they didn’t fail at even strength. But even if you ignore that, they scored twice on the power play and otherwise outworked and outplayed a very good Predators club.

I’ve gotta give it to Tkachuk, who continued a very nice stretch where he’s been the straw that stirs the drink for the team offensively. He got double-shifted at times to get the third line going and it generally seemed to work.

The five-on-three. The Flames needed a goal to grab momentum back from the Predators. They ended up getting four shots and a ton of puck movement, along with a crucial goal. They never looked back.

The Flames now have 68 points with 24 games remaining. They need 28 points over their remaining schedule – the equivalent of a 14-10-0 record to hit the 96 point mark that’ll probably be the playoff cut-off.

The Flames (30-20-8) hop on their charter and fly back to Calgary tonight. They’re off tomorrow, then prepare to host the Florida Panthers on Saturday night.