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The Calgary Flames never had a lead during Thursday night’s game against the Boston Bruins. The entirety of regulation was spent tied or trailing. They still managed to battle their way to a point against a strong Bruins side.
The Flames came back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to force overtime, but lost 4-3 to the Bruins.
The rundown
The Bruins opened the scoring early in the first period, taking advantage of some gaps in the Flames’ defensive zone coverage. David Pastrnak noticed Hampus Lindholm rushing in from the point and found him with a crisp pass. Lindholm deked in-close and beat Dustin Wolf to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
But just 19 seconds later, the Flames answered back. The fourth line won a face-off back to Tyson Barrie, and Barrie’s point shot beat Joonas Korpisalo to even things up at 1-1.
First period shots were 10-10. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 5-3 Flames (high-dangers were 2-1 Bruins).
The Flames were a bit rusty defensively in the second period, and the Bruins took advantage and pressed for much of the period. They grabbed hold of this game with two goals scored just 31 seconds apart.
First, the Flames and Bruins were engulfed in some back-and-forth play. The Bruins managed to take advantage of some gaps in the Flames’ coverage on a rush chance, and Pastrnak fed Pavel Zacha in the slot and he beat Wolf to give the home side a 2-1 lead.
On the very next shift, off another rush sequence, Charlie Coyle wheeled around Barrie and found Cole Koepke at the far side of the net (sneaking behind Brayden Pachal) and Koekpe cashed in with a tap-in in give the Bruins a 3-1 advantage.
Second period shots were 15-13 Bruins. Five-on-five scoring chances were 11-8 Flames (high-dangers were 4-3 Bruins).
The Flames tightened things up and pressed in the third period.
On an early power play, MacKenzie Weegar rifled a shot from the point that was deflected by Yegor Sharangovich in the slot area and wobbled past Korpisalo to cut Boston’s lead to 3-2.
Coyle caught a rut in the ice and tumbled at the Flames’ blueline, and Kevin Bahl sent Nazem Kadri in on the rush. Kadri went for a toe-drag and fired the puck between Nikita Zadorov’s legs (using the blueliner as a screen) and his shot beat Korpisalo to tie the game at 3-3.
Third period shots were 10-8 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 9-4 Bruins (high-dangers were 3-2 Bruins).
Overtime went back and forth, with both teams getting great chances. Brad Marchand took advantage of a turnover and a rebound in the Flames’ end to jam a puck past Wolf to give Boston a 4-3 win.
Why the Flames got a point
The Flames were down for a big chunk of this game because their puck management was iffy, especially in their own zone. And they ultimately lost the game because of a turnover behind their own net. But they managed to force overtime because their puck management was really tightened up in the third period and they played with a ton of urgency.
It wasn’t a perfect outing, but you can’t fault the Flames for how they battled in a tough building.
Red Warrior
Let’s give it to Wolf. The Flames needed him to hold him in this game to keep it from getting away from them at times. He was fully up to the task against one of the NHL’s best outfits.
Turning point
The Flames entered the third period down two goals, on the road, against a Boston team that’s tough to beat in any building. They kept battling. It wasn’t picturesque at times, but we’ll put that 20 minutes up with any period they’ve played this season.
This and that
Dustin Wolf took his first career penalty in the first period, but you could argue that it was a “good” penalty to prevent a potential goal.
Up next
The Flames (7-5-2) conclude their road trip on Saturday afternoon when they face the Buffalo Sabres.
