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The Calgary Flames hosted the New York Rangers on Thursday night in a really entertaining 60 minutes of hockey. The Flames dominated the first half, then the Rangers woke up and tied things up. But a third period goal from Connor Zary tilted the balance and the Flames held on for a hard-fought 3-2 victory.

The rundown

The Flames were strong in the first period, aside from a few lapses in their own zone in the first couple of shifts. Once they got their legs going, though, they really took it to the Rangers.
The Flames ended up opening the scoring with a nice rush play by Mikael Backlund’s line, with Yegor Sharangovich dropping the puck back to Matt Coronato, who skated towards the slot and fired a shot that beat Igor Shesterkin to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
The Flames followed that up with two power plays. They didn’t score, but they generated a lot on those man advantages.
First period shots were 20-5 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 11-4 Flames (high-dangers were 6-2 Flames).
The Flames kept pressing in the second period and they managed to get another goal, this time on the man advantage.
After Martin Pospisil drew a penalty on a scoring chance, the Flames went to work. MacKenzie Weegar fed Sharangovich for a one-timer that he blasted past Shesterkin to give the Flames a 2-0 lead.
The Rangers challenged for a hand-pass, but the goal was upheld. The Flames nearly made it 3-0 on that power play, but Shesterkin made two big saves on that Flames power play to keep the game close.
That was key, as the Rangers scored two quick goals – just 16 seconds apart – to tie the game before the second period ended.
First, the Rangers got a bit of zone time and cycled the puck around the Calgary zone. The Flames just couldn’t fully gain possession or clear the zone. Jacob Trouba’s point shot was stopped by Dustin Wolf, but he booted the rebound out to Alexis Lafreniere, who chipped it past Wolf to cut the Flames’ lead to 2-1.
On the very next shift, the Rangers scored again. This time, Will Cuylle tipped a K’Andre Miller point shot from near the slot, and it wobbled past Wolf to tie the game at 2-2.
Second period shots were 17-15 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 14-8 Rangers (high-dangers were 6-2 Rangers).
The third period was pretty even, but the Flames managed to grab the lead off a heck of a sequence from Connor Zary. Zary drove the net and chipped the puck over top of Shesterkin’s shoulder to give the Flames a 3-2 lead.
The Rangers pulled Shesterkin for the extra attacker and pressed for the tying goal, but they couldn’t quite solve Wolf again. Jonathan Huberdeau hit the post on an empty net (and nobody else could hit the open cage), but the Flames held on for the 3-2 triumph.
Third period shots were 12-10 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 8-5 Rangers (high-dangers were 4-2 Rangers).

Why the Flames won

The Flames were easily the better team for roughly 35 minutes of this game, about as good as the Rangers for another 20-ish, and were on their heels for the remainder. On balance, against a team of that calibre, that’s a pretty good outing.

Red Warrior

We’re gonna single out the non-Wolf kids: Zary and Coronato. Not only did both score some nice goals, but even when they weren’t scoring they were doing a lot of positive things and standing out on the ice.
But a lot of players in black jerseys had strong games.

Turning point

The game was up for grabs in the third period and given how both teams were playing, it was waiting for somebody to make a play. Zary made a big-time play to grab his team a third period lead.

This and that

This was Yegor Sharangovich’s 300th NHL game.
Jonathan Huberdeau assisted on Zary’s goal, which was Huberdeau’s 500th career helper.
Yes, Flames fans still boo Adam Fox every time he touches the puck.

Up next

The Flames (11-6-3) finish off their homestand on Saturday afternoon when they host the Minnesota Wild in a matinee game.