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Flames Post-Game: Flames hang on for a close win over Chicago
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Dec 21, 2024, 18:45 ESTUpdated: Dec 21, 2024, 19:35 EST
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The Calgary Flames hosted the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday afternoon in the Flames’ final game before their Christmas break.
With a week off waiting in the wings, the Flames played pretty well for 40 minutes and then hung on for dear life in the third period. After leading 5-1 after two periods, they held on for a 6-4 victory over Chicago.

The rundown

The first half of the first period was a bit of a goaltending duel. Neither goalie was especially busy, but both had to make some big saves on some high-danger chances. Dustin Wolf made big stops on Connor Bedard and Ilya Mikheyev, while Petr Mrazek used his paddle to make a big stop on Jake Bean in-close.
With Mikael Backlund serving an interference minor, the Flames scored their first shorthanded goal in 33 games. Blake Coleman battled at the Flames’ blueline to clear a loose puck into the neutral zone. Jonathan Huberdeau alertly took control of the puck, sped into the Chicago zone and cut to the front of the net. He beat Mrazek to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
67 seconds later, the Flames scored again. The penalty kill ended and the Flames made a personnel change. Nazem Kadri intercepted an errant puck from Chicago in the neutral zone, then skated into the Blackhawks zone and fired a low wrist shot that beat Mrazek to give the Flames a 2-0 lead.
Later still, Huberdeau had a penalty shot opportunity, but Mrazek made a save.
First period shots were 15-8 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 12-10 Flames (high-danger chances were 3-2 Blackhawks).
The Flames pressed for much of the second period, but couldn’t score. The Blackhawks intercepted a pass in their own zone and went on an odd-man rush into the Flames’ zone. Taylor Hall found Connor Bedard with a nice pass and Bedard’s one-timer beat Wolf to cut Calgary’s lead to 2-1.
But the Flames responded back 28 seconds later. Off a rush opportunity, Yegor Sharangovich’s initial shot was blocked by a Chicago defender, but Jakob Pelletier alertly grabbed the loose puck and fed it to Connor Zary, whose wrister found the open net behind Mrazek to give the Flames a 3-1 lead.
A little later, Martin Pospisil stepped into Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar. He had previously stepped into Bedard and the Blackhawks were unhappy with these hits, so Ryan Donato jumped Pospisil and a scrum ensued. The Flames ended up with a power play.
On the power play that resulted from the Pospisil scrum, Huberdeau fed Matt Coronato near the Chicago net and he beat Mrazek to make it 4-1 Flames.
Late in the period, the Flames added some insurance. Bean fired the puck on net and it glanced off a Blackhawks player and was deftly deflected by Coleman past Mrazek to give the Flames a 5-1 lead.
Second period shots were 10-10. Five-on-five scoring chances were 8-5 Blackhawks (high-danger chances were 2-2).
Early in the third period, Tyler Bertuzzi scored off a cycle play after the Flames kept struggling to clear their own zone. That cut the lead to 5-2.
On a single sequence, both Kevin Bahl and Backlund took minor penalties. On the resulting two-man advantage, Bertuzzi parked himself at the far post and converted a great pass from Bedard to cut the Flames’ lead to 5-3.
Chicago pulled Mrazek for the extra attacker and kept pressing. Mikheyev jammed in a loose puck off a scramble following an initial Wolf save to cut the Flames’ lead to 5-4.
But Backlund added an empty-netter with 23 seconds left in regulation to halt Chicago’s comeback. The Flames won 6-4.
Third period shots were 10-5 Blackhawks. Five-on-five scoring chances were 5-0 Blackhawks (high-danger chances were 2-0 Blackhawks).

Why the Flames won

Give the Flames credit: the final game before Christmas, especially at home, can be a bit of a grind. But the Flames were generally pretty good. Were they a bit leaky defensively at times? Yeah. Did they take too many penalties? Sure. Did they take their foot off the gas in the third period? Definitely. And it made the game way closer than it probably should’ve been.

Red Warrior

A lot of players in red had strong games. We’ll single out Huberdeau here for his strong special teams work.
But honorable mentions to Zary, Pelletier and Coronato.

Turning point

The Flames responded back from Bedard’s goal immediately, which allowed them to maintain their momentum and then pile up a few goals. (That turned out to be important later.)

This and that

Huberdeau has surpassed last season’s goal total. Already. He scored 12 in 2023-24 and already has 13 this season.
The prior Flames shorthanded goal was on Oct. 9, scored by Anthony Mantha in the season-opener.

Up next

The Flames (16-11-7) are off for the holiday break! They’re back in action on Dec. 28 when they visit the San Jose Sharks.

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