Friends, we’re probably at the point where we can be honest with you about the nature of the game of hockey. Sometimes games are fun and exciting and make you feel alive for having witnessed them.

Friday night’s clash between the Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils, however, was not one of those games. The Scotiabank Saddledome played host to a match where the two netminders looked very sharp, but the execution for each side’s skaters came and went throughout the game.

A flurry of late goals earned the Flames a 3-0 victory to snap their four game losing skid.

Typically, we use this section to break down the many offensive plays that led to goals. Well, this game didn’t have a heck of a lot of high-octane, high-danger, grade-A chances.

The two teams combined for zero goals in the first two periods. The Flames had a shot edge in both periods (12-5 in the first and 11-9 in the second) and more scoring chances overall, but the Devils held a 5-2 edge in high-danger opportunities (via Natural Stat Trick).

Just when it seemed like this game would have zero winners, the Flames scored a pair of quick goals to grab hold of the game.

First, the Flames whiffed on an initial scoring chance off a rush opportunity, but then Kevin Bahl’s point shot was redirected in front by Blake Coleman and beat Jacob Markstrom. That gave the Flames a 1-0 lead.

As they were announcing the Coleman goal, Jonathan Huberdeau scored off the rush, converting a nice pass from Anthony Mantha to make it 2-0 Flames.

Coleman added an empty-netter to ice this game at 3-0.

Third period shots were 9-8 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 4-3 Devils (high-dangers were 3-2 Flames).

We’re going to call a spade a spade here: neither team executed particularly well with the puck for chunks of this game. Both were prone to defensive breakdowns, and both managed to find ways to not score on some pretty impressive opportunities. Yes, both Jacob Markstrom and Dan Vladar were really good when tested. But neither team tested the opposition’s goaltender with oodles of scary-dangerous chances.

The Flames managed to execute with the puck for a decent chunk of this game in the third period, and that was enough to earn them two points.

We’ve gotta go with Vladar. The Flames had some big-time defensive breakdowns in front of him and he managed to bail them out several times.

The Flames scored twice in a 28-second span in the third period to grab hold of this game.

The Flames commemorated Mikael Backlund’s 1,000th NHL game on Wednesday night with a ceremony before Friday’s game where Backlund and his family were lavished with gifts – including the customary silver stick for Backlund.

There was a fight in the first period off a questionable hit and a weird play. Brayden Pachal hit Paul Cotter along the wall in the Flames’ zone, and Ryan Lomberg lost his footing and basically fell onto Cotter awkwardly. Nathan Bastian took offence to Lomberg landing on his vulnerable teammate and started a fight, but Lomberg basically fed Bastian punches until the linesmen broke it up. And to add insult to injury, Bastian was given the instigator on the sequence.

The Flames used a bunch of different configurations of players on their various power plays. They didn’t generate a whole lot.

The Flames (6-4-1) host the Edmonton Oilers in the Battle of Alberta – the only edition of the season hosted at the Saddledome – on Sunday night.