Post-Game Wrap-Up: Flames get a point in outdoor OT loss

The Calgary Flames played one of their better efforts of this young season on a snowy Saturday evening in scenic Regina, Saskatchewan. The Flames scored first in the 2019 Heritage Classic, but they let a win slip away through a couple late penalties that paved the way for a 2-1 overtime victory for the Winnipeg Jets.

The whole game was scrambly as heck, with Postmedia’s Kristen Anderson likening it to shinny on her Twitter. The first period featured a bunch of Flames chances early, then a Sean Monahan puck-over-glass penalty, then a bunch of Jets chances. Neither team scored, but Johnny Gaudreau had a great breakaway chance early in the period and Oliver Kylington had a good chance on a late pinch.

Shots were 14-11 Jets in the first period.

The second period saw a couple more Jets power plays, but then the Flames came back and drew one of their own. With the man advantage, they scored after Matthew Tkachuk batted a clearing attempt out of mid-air and that led to a sequence where Elias Lindholm jammed a rebound past Connor Hellebuyck.

The Jets challenged the play, because they thought it was an obvious missed call on Tkachuk’s mid-air swat at the puck.

The call stood, potentially because Tkachuk was leaning forward when he hit the puck and so his shoulders weren’t at their “normal height.”

The Flames led in shots 15-12 in the second period.

The Flames seemed content to play a structured and boring third period. The Jets pressed late and drew a power play after Mark Giordano got caught out of position in the defensive zone. Josh Morrissey powered a slapper through traffic on the man advantage to tie the game up 1-1. The remainder of regulation solved nothing. Shots were 15-4 Jets.

So off to overtime it went. Sean Monahan took a minor penalty in the first minute of OT. The Flames killed off that penalty, but shortly afterwards they failed to win an offensive zone face-off and TJ Brodie got caught defending a two-on-one. Brodie elected to try a sliding block that failed to block Kyle Connor’s pass to Bryan Little, which gave the Jets a tap-in past a sliding David Rittich to give the team in blue a 2-1 win.

Honestly, the Flames did a pretty good job in a weird game situation. They played structured hockey, largely kept it simple, and generally looked good and poised.

That said, they made key mistakes at key times – Giordano’s third period penalty, Monahan’s overtime penalty, and whatever Brodie (and Tkachuk and Derek Ryan) was trying to do on that play that led to the Jets’ winner. It was a strong but imperfect effort from the Flames.

The real Red Warrior is Rittich, who faced 45 shots.

Giordano’s third period penalty was rough, and a product of him misreading a play, getting caught out of position, and then overcompensating. The Jets were all over the Flames late and the penalty (and goal) gave them a ton of additional energy.

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

This was career game 600 for Travis Hamonic.

Adam Lowry crushed Kylington at the end of the second and received a boarding minor. Kylington returned for the third period.

The Flames (6-5-2) have two days off in a row. They’re back in action on Tuesday when they travel to scenic Raleigh, North Carolina to visit Dougie Hamilton, museums, and the Carolina Hurricanes.

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