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The Calgary Flames and Boston Bruins faced off on Tuesday evening at the Saddledome in a heck of a hockey game. The Flames carried play early, while the Bruins battled back from a pair of two-goal Calgary leads to force overtime.
In a back and forth game, the Bruins beat the Flames in overtime by a 4-3 score.

The rundown

Neither team scored in the opening period, as it felt like they were testing out each others’ defences. The Flames had the puck more and did a good job of maintaining possession, but the Bruins did a nice job keeping them to the outside and preventing them from generating much in the way of dangerous chances.
First period shots were 9-4 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 6-2 Flames (high-danger chances were 4-1 Flames).
After spending the first period trying to get inside the Bruins’ defenders, the Flames figured it out in the second period. And early.
54 seconds into the period, Matt Coronato was in the slot and received a pass from Blake Coleman in the corner. Coronato pivoted towards the Bruins’ net and fired the puck past Jeremy Swayman to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
27 seconds later, while they were announcing Coronato’s goal in the arena, the Flames scored again. This time, the Flames made a nice cycle play and Nazem Kadri – with Martin Pospisil parked out front – fired the puck past Swayman to give the Flames a 2-0 lead.
Midway through the second, the Bruins responded back. A bouncing puck got past MacKenzie Weegar in the neutral zone and was corralled by old friend Elias Lindholm. Lindholm chipped the bouncing puck on net and it squeaked under Dustin Wolf’s arm and into the net to cut the Calgary lead to 3-1.
As the second period wound down, the Flames got some insurance. Ryan Lomberg carried the puck into the Boston zone and dropped it back for Connor Zary. Zary’s shot was partially blocked by Brandon Carlo, and bounced right to Lomberg at the side of the net. Lomberg slid the puck past Swayman to give the Flames a 3-1 lead.
Second period shots were 12-9 Bruins. Five-on-five scoring chances were 13-8 Bruins (high-danger chances were 6-3 Bruins).
The Bruins refused to go away in the third period and kept battling.
The Bruins cut Calgary’s lead to 3-2 a few minutes into the period. Mason Lohrei’s stick broke on a point shot, but Andrew Peeke put the puck on net. Wolf made the stop, but Morgan Geekie jammed in the loose rebound to bring the Bruins within one.
A little later, the Bruins tied things up. Brad Marchand went for a skate in the Flames’ zone and found Marc McLaughlin entering the zone. Wolf made the initial stop on McLaughlin’s shot, but on a scramble for the rebound McLaughlin jammed the puck into the net to tie the game at 3-3.
Third period shots were 15-5 Bruins.
This one headed to overtime. Both teams had looks during extra time. With 38 seconds left on the clock, David Pastrnak fired a shot from the slot that beat Wolf inside the post to give the Bruins a 4-3 victory.

Why the Flames got a point

The Flames were the better team in the first half of this game. The Bruins got better as the game went on, and they were probably the better team in the second half. But this game was a really entertaining tactical, physical battle. The Flames executed well with the puck in the first half, but Boston did a great job using physicality to wear the Flames down and force some poorer choices. Ultimately, it was a game both teams probably deserved to get points out of. The difference, ultimately, was a bit better execution offensively by the Bruins.

Red Warrior

Let’s give this jointly to Matt Coronato and Connor Zary. They combined for seven shots in regulation and brought a ton of energy to the game.

Turning point

We’re going to go with two turning points, both in the third period. Boston scored twice early in the third period to tie things up and generated a ton of momentum. But the Flames came up with a big penalty kill with the game tied (and Joel Hanley in the box), doing a nice job at halting the Bruins’ surge.

This and that

Ryan Lomberg’s second period goal was his first with the Flames franchise.
This was the first game back in Calgary for Elias Lindholm after his mid-season trade (to Vancouver) last January.

Up next

The Flames (15-11-6) are back in action on Thursday when they host the Ottawa Senators.