Post-Game: X marks the (playoff) spot

For the second time in as many games, the Calgary Flames weren’t an amazing hockey club tonight. However, they were a lot closer to what they usually are than they were on Wednesday. They were bad with the puck in the first period and okay with it in the third, but they rode a really strong second period to a 5-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks at the Saddledome.

As a result of this win, the Flames have clinched a playoff berth.

The entire first period was rather disjointed, with neither team looking particularly poised. The Flames looked nervous and jumpy. The Sharks, who played the night before in Edmonton, looked a bit sluggish. Brian Elliott was the best player in a red sweater. But a heads up play by 20-year-old Sam Bennett triggered a scoring sequence for the home side.

My word, that passing. Shots were 12-7 Sharks, many of them dangerous.

After killing off a carry-over penalty from the previous period, the Flames got a power play of their own as Bennett drew a call. After a fairly scrambly sequence, Sean Monahan went after a loose puck in a scramble and beat Martin Jones to make it 2-0 Flames.

Marc-Eduoard Vlasic – the player the Sharks got with the pick the Flames sent them for Miikka Kiprusoff – made it 2-1 as he jumped into the rush on an odd-man sequence after Matt Bartkowski got caught up ice going the other way.

However, just when you thought it wasn’t safe to go back into the water (’cause of Sharks), Matt Stajan got a big one for the Flames. The Sharks tried to clear the puck out, Michael Stone leapt up to bat the puck back down to keep it in, and Stajan buried the rebound of his initial point shot to make it 3-1.

Late in the second, Alex Chiasson scored on his back-hand on a nice passing sequence with new linemates Kris Versteeg and Bennett to make it 4-1.

Shots were 15-8 Flames in the second. Martin Jones was chased, replaced by Aaron Dell for the final period.

Melker Karlsson made it 4-2 midway through the third period off a redirection of a Joe Pavelski shot. The Sharks got a late power play and pulled their goalie, but the Flames defended fairly well (and Elliott was very good). Bennett added an empty-netter coming out of the penalty box to ice this one at 5-2.

Shots were 18-13 Sharks in the final period.

Aside from their goaltender, the Flames best players weren’t at their best tonight. However, their depth guys – particularly their new third line of Bennett, Versteeg and Chiasson – were very good throughout this game. The Sharks were tired and weren’t able to make the Flames pay for their blunders with the puck, while the third line made the Sharks pay for theirs.

Oh, and Elliott was very, very good. Again.

The Stajan goal reinstated Calgary’s two goal lead in the second and really halted a lot of San Jose’s momentum.

We’ve gone with Elliott a lot, so let’s go with the resurrection of Bennett. He was dynamite tonight: on the ice for three Calgary goals and drawing the penalty that led to a fourth.

The Flames are now:

The other three players are Joe Nieuwendyk, Sergei Makarov and Tom Lysiak.

Make the arrangements: the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs begin on Wednesday, April 12.

With the win, the Flames magic number drops from 1 to 0. They cannot be mathematically caught by the Los Angeles Kings and have officially clinched a berth in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Flames (44-30-4) are off tomorrow and then prepare to finish off the home side of their regular season schedule on Sunday evening when they host the Anaheim Ducks.