Post-Game: Two For the Road

The Calgary Flames went into Edmonton tonight hoping for a win. Hoping to not have a trip-up game. Hoping to build up some much-needed momentum as they barrel into the final four games of the regular season.

58 seconds into the game, starter Karri Ramo left the ice with a leg injury.

59 minutes and 2 seconds later, the Flames skated away with a 4-0 victory over the pesky Oilers, who actually played a pretty solid game for the first 30-ish minutes of the contest and then seemingly hit a wall.

The big news of the first period was Ramo’s injury, as he left after making a rather routine save in the butterfly position. Joe Colborne scored early to put the Flames up 1-0 and Jonas Hiller made a few nice saves as he came into the game in relief. Shots were 11-8 for the Oilers in the first.

The Oilers carried the play for the first half of the second period. They couldn’t bury their chances. And so the Flames got warmed up, got their legs moving and generated some chances. Markus Granlund was the beneficiary of a really nice shift by Josh Jooris, who battled and fought through traffic and stole the puck a few times. Granlund ended up with the puck on his stick beside the net and buried the chance to make it 2-0. Shots were 11-6 in the second for Calgary.

Edmonton appeared to stop trying in the third period. Shots were even at 10-10, but the Flames scored twice – a nice power-play point shot by Dennis Wideman and an odd-angle shot by Granlund that eluded Ben Scrivens after a giveaway. The Oilers rarely pressed and the Flames seemed content to dump and chase.

The Flames didn’t let themselves get rattled when Karri Ramo went down. Jonas Hiller was strong coming in cold off the bench. The Oilers wilted as the game went on and they couldn’t bury their early chances, while the Flames got stronger as the game went on and were able to bury their chances and put Edmonton away.

You would’ve hoped that the Flames would’ve dominated the Oilers for the full 60 minutes with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Boyd Gordon out, but they took over the game when it counted – late – and got two points.

That’s really all you could’ve hoped for.

Let’s go with the Kid Line: Markus Granlund, Josh Jooris and Michael Ferland really worked well together, generated chances and put two goals up on the board.

And stick-tap to Dennis Wideman, who had a goal and two assists.

The Flames tied their team record for road wins with their 22nd victory away from the ‘Dome tonight. Per Wes Gilbertson of the Sun, the Flames previously won 22 on the road in 1987-88 and 1988-89.

The Flames improve to 43-29-7 and keep pace with the Kings and Jets, who each won this evening.

They’re back in action on Tuesday night in Game 80 of the regular season when they host the Arizona Coyotes.