Post-Game Wrap-Up: Bubble burst, Flames out in six games

The Calgary Flames have been a weird team in 2019-20. Sometimes they’re great. Sometimes they’re awful. They were both in Game 6 of their first round series against the Dallas Stars. Unfortunately, their awful second period completely undid their great first eight minutes.

The Flames lost 7-3 to Dallas in Game 6. They have been eliminated from the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Flames got out to a fantastic, energetic start and were rewarded early and often. Just under four minutes into the period, they got on the board. Some nice puck cycling and forechecking got the puck to TJ Brodie at the point. His wrister was redirected by Andrew Mangiapane past Anton Khudobin to make it 1-0 Flames.

Shortly thereafter, Dillon Dube drew a penalty. On the resulting power play, Sam Bennett’s shot was stopped by Khudobin and sent into the corner. Johnny Gaudreau jumped on the loose puck below the goal line and fired the puck at the net, bouncing it off Khudobin’s leg and into the net to make it 2-0 Flames.

A little bit later, the Flames got additional insurance. Tobias Rieder made a slick drop pass to Rasmus Andersson and the Swede powered the puck past Khudobin to make it 3-0 Flames.

But Cam Talbot’s shutout bid didn’t last terribly long. With Milan Lucic in the penalty box after crashing the net, Miro Heiskanen powered a slapper short-side past Talbot to cut the Calgary lead to 3-1.

Shots were 15-5 Flames and scoring chances 12-3 Flames in the first period. High-danger chances were 4-1 for Calgary.

Dallas clawed closer in the opening minute of the second period. The Flames couldn’t clear their zone and Denis Gurianov simply threw the puck on net and it got past Talbot short-side to make it a 3-2 hockey game. (In Talbot’s defense, there were a lot of bodies around the shooting lane.)

A little later, the game got tied up as Joe Pavelski redirected an Esa Lindell point shot (which may have also hit Gurianov). The puck went five-hole and in on Talbot to tie the game at 3-3. That spelled the end of the evening for Talbot and he was relieved by David Rittich.

Lucic took a puck-over-the-glass minor penalty and Dallas took the lead. Rittich made the initial save, but the defenders couldn’t grab the rebound and Radek Faksa put it in the open net to make it 4-3 Stars.

A little later still, Dallas padded their lead. The Flames lost the defensive zone face-off. The point shot from Heiskanen was stopped, but Pavelski jumped on the loose rebound to make it 5-3 Stars.

Gurianov sniped a goal off the rush past Rittich late in the second period to complete his hat trick and make it 6-3 Stars.

Shots were 12-12 in the second period, while scoring chances were 9-8 Stars. (High-dangers were 5-3 Stars.)

Talbot was put back in goal to start the third period. The Flames pressed but Dallas defended fairly well. Gurianov jumped on a big rebound from Talbot midway through the period to get his fourth goal to make it 7-3 Stars.

The Stars held on for the victory in the game and series. The shots were 14-7 Flames and scoring chances 12-5 Flames in the third period, but it was all score effects.

The Flames had a great start and took advantage of a seemingly shell-shocked Stars team in the first period. But the Stars found their legs, then found their fortitude, and the Flames had absolutely no answer for them.

The stat line for their goaltenders wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t entirely their fault. The Flames simply didn’t battle as hard as Dallas after the first period. Dallas generated a ton of good chances, the Flames couldn’t defend effectively, and the Stars seemingly scored at will in the second period.

The result? One of the most spectacular playoff collapses in the history of the franchise.

Sam Bennett didn’t get any goals, but he generated chances and shots and was the Flames’ best player in the playoffs. He gets the nod as a lifetime achievement award for his work over the past 10 games.

The Flames were up 3-0 eight minutes into the game. Then Lucic took his first penalty and Dallas scored.

In the next period, Dallas scored three goals in 4:48 – including a second PP goal with Lucic in the box – and the Flames had absolutely no answer to what was happening to them. Their momentum was evaporated and they were on their heels until the final buzzer.

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

The other worst in-game collapse in playoff history may be Game 6 of the 1986 Campbell Conference Final. The Flames had a 4-1 lead midway through the third period against the St. Louis Blues. The Blues rallied to tie the game and won in overtime in a game since referred to as the Monday Night Miracle. The Flames bounced back and won Game 7 to advance to the Cup Final.

The Flames also blew a 2-0 lead in Game 4 against Colorado last year, losing 3-2 in overtime to drop to 3-1 in that series.

Since Rittich was in net for the game-deciding goal, he will officially be credited with the loss.

The Stars have won this best-of-seven series 4-2. They will advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and face Colorado in the second round.

The Flames’ season is done.