Post-Sim Wrap-Up: Flames triumph to tie series up

The alternate universe Stanley Cup playoffs continued on Friday night, as the virtual Calgary Flames faced the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of their first round series. The Flames scored first and then held on for dear life en route to a 3-2 victory to even the series up at one win apiece.

The Flames scored twice in the first period to put themselves in the driver’s seat. First, Sean Monahan grabbed his own rebound after Marc-Andre Fleury made the initial save and beat him to make it 1-0. A little awhile later, Dillon Dube buried a one-timer from the slot after a nice bit of cycle and pressure by the third line to wear down Vegas. That made it 2-0.

Early in the third period the Flames added some insurance, as TJ Brodie’s point shot eluded Fleury to make it 3-0. But Vegas wouldn’t go away and they pushed, hard. They eventually broke through David Rittich with five minutes left in regulation, as Paul Stastny buried a rebound to cut the lead to 3-1. The lead was cut further with two minutes remaining as Mark Stone scored with a gorgeous wrist shot off the rush to make it a 3-2 Flames lead.

But the Flames managed to hold off a hard-charging Golden Knights attack to win 3-2.

The Flames never trailed. Vegas out-shot them 27-17.

Game 3’s simulation goes Sunday night in Vegas.