The Calgary Flames met the Vancouver Canucks on Monday afternoon in the final game of the Young Stars Classic tournament.
The Flames got off to a good start, spotting themselves to a 2-0 lead before the Canucks scored four consequence goals to take hold of the game. The Flames tried to battle back, but ultimately lost the Penticton finale by a 4-3 score.
The rundown
The opening period was pretty back and forth, but the Flames’ youngsters opened the scoring about midway through. During an offensive zone sequence, Samuel Honzek found Matvei Gridin in the slot, and Gridin buried his wrist shot past Canucks goaltender Nikita Tolopilo to give the Flames a 1-0 edge.
A little later, the Flames scored again. This time, the Flames won some puck battles in the offensive zone and Jaden Lipinski thew a pass to Zayne Parekh at the point. Parekh had tons of time to shoot and his wrister from the point beat Tolopilo to make it 2-0.
But late in the period, the Canucks broke their goose-egg off a really nice individual play from Arshdeep Bains out front. Elias Pettersson (the defenceman) shot a puck towards the front of the Flames net, and Bains tipped it once to raise it up and then a second time to redirect it past Waltteri Ignatjew to cut Calgary’s lead to 2-1.
First period shots were 14-7 Canucks.
So, the Flames took three consecutive minor penalties in the first half of the second period. Shockingly, that wasn’t a great strategy for maintaining a lead. On the third power play, Riley Patterson redirected a Danila Klimovich shot past Ignatjew to tie things up at 2-2.
A little later, Parekh went for a skate through the neutral zone to try to get something going for his team. He was squeezed out along the boards by a Canucks player, leading to a neutral zone turnover. A couple quick passes sent Deagan McMillan in all alone against Connor Murphy and he scored, giving Vancouver a 3-2 edge.
A little later, the Canucks went up by two, as Vilmer Alriksson threw the puck on net from a bad angle and it got past Murphy to give them a 4-2 lead.
Second period shots were 16-5 Canucks.
The Flames pulled back within a goal in the third period, as Gridin made a nice pass to send Honzek in alone. He beat Tolopilo to cut Vancouver’s lead to 4-3.
The Flames pulled Murphy for the extra attacker, but the Canucks held on for a 4-3 win.
Third period shots were 9-6 Flames.
Why the Flames lost
The Flames got off to a decent enough start, but they lost their handle on the game with all those second period penalties and just couldn’t quite get all the way back after they went down a couple goals.
Red Warrior
It’s a joint award for the third first-rounders who scored goals: Parekh, Gridin and Honzek.
But, again, a bunch of players in red looked good – among them Luke Misa, Henry Mews, Jacob Battaglia, Andrew Basha and Ignatjew.
This and that
Lines, via Sportsnet 960 The Fan’s Pat Steinberg:
Lucas Ciona [A] – Luke Misa – Andrew Basha
Samuel Honzek [A] – Luke McNamara – Matvei Gridin
Jacob Battaglia – Jaden Lipinski – Hunter Laing
Parker Bell [A] – David Silye – Trevor Janicke
Eric Jamieson – Zayne Parekh
Axel Hurtig – Henry Mews
Etienne Morin – Joni Jurmo
Waltteri Ignatjew started in net and was relieved by Connor Murphy midway through the game.
Up next
The Young Stars Classic is over. Main camp begins for the Flames on Wednesday, with on-ice likely beginning on Thursday.
