Post-Game Wrap-Up: Flames power past Wings

The Calgary Flames have gotten a little bit better in each of their past few games. While they weren’t perfect on Thursday night, they were easily the better team at the Scotiabank Saddledome in a pretty decisive 5-1 victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings.

The two clubs exchanged good scoring chances early, with Jimmy Howard making big saves early on Sam Bennett and Andrew Mangiapane and David Rittich stopping Andreas Athanasiou on a partial breakaway.

The Flames had a lot of pressure and finally cashed in midway through the first period. Andrew Mangiapane deflected Mark GIordano’s point shot past Howard to make it 1-0 Flames.

Shots were 10-5 Flames in the first, but scoring chances were 8-6 Red Wings.

The Flames added to their lead in the second period off a nice sequence from their power play. After some sustained pressure, Matthew Tkachuk whiffed on a wrist shot attempt from the high slot. But his shot attempt deflected the puck across the slot to Elias Lindholm, who deposited the loose puck into the net to make it 2-0 Flames.

But the two goal cushion lasted just 28 seconds, as Anthony Mantha had a breakaway chance. He was stopped, but the puck squirted between Rittich’s pads and Darren Helm, the trailer on the play, poked it into the net to cut the lead to 2-1.

Shots were 13-7 Red Wings in the second period and scoring chances were 8-7 Red Wings.

You’ll never believe it, but Milan Lucic got his first point as a member of the Flames early in the third period. Off a dump-in, Lucic crashed and banged behind the net, separating Alex Biega from the puck. A quick pass to Sam Bennett at the side of the net later and it was 3-1 Flames.

The Flames lead increased to 4-1 soon after off another nice play by Lucic and some chaos in front of Howard. Lucic chipped the puck on net and after several players took a whack at it, a whack from a Red Wings defender put it into the net. Whoops. Derek Ryan touched the puck last for the Flames and got credit for the goal.

The Flames drew a major penalty off a pair of fairly rough-looking plays. Lindholm got his elbow up on some contact in the defensive zone, drawing the ire of Helm. Helm proceeded to give Lindholm a pretty vicious slash to the back of his leg and was given a major and a game misconduct. (Lindholm was given a minor for his transgression.)

On the resultant Flames power play, Giordano hammered a point shot past Howard to make it 5-1 Flames, and that’s how it ended. Shots were 19-10 Flames and chances 12-5 Flames in the third period.

The Flames are a deeper team than Detroit, but what set them apart for much of this game was their ability to (mostly) stick to structure in their game. They had more structured five-man units – especially in their breakouts – than they’ve had all season, and it really helped them early on when Detroit tried to generate offensive pressure.

Beyond that, the Flames managed to take advantage of their offensive opportunities and Rittich made the saves you would expect Rittich to make (and a few that you might not).

Tkachuk had an assist, but he also drew three power plays on his own. He was engaged and a menace in all three zones.

The Flames had energy and momentum throughout this game, but Mangiapane’s early goal set the tone for the game. Detroit never really seemed in the fabric of things from that point on.

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Percentage stats are 5v5.

Mangiapane took a tumble into the boards late in the second period.

He left the game and didn’t return. Lindholm left the game after the slash from Helm in the third period and also didn’t return. The Flames finished the third period with just 10 forwards.

The Flames (4-3-1) jet off to sunny Southern California tomorrow. They play Los Angeles on Saturday and Anaheim on Sunday.

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