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Flames Post-Game: It’s New Year’s Eve and everyone wants to dance
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Dec 31, 2024, 23:47 ESTUpdated: Jan 1, 2025, 02:02 EST
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The New Year’s Eve game is a weird one. The Saddledome crowd gives the building a unique energy, and as a result we often see games that have odd vibes to them. Tuesday’s clash between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks was a great example of a Weird New Year’s Eve Game.
In a game that had almost as many fights as goals, the Flames managed to win the battle, beating the Canucks by a 3-1 score.

The rundown

The first period was pretty back and forth, but generally pretty clean. Both teams had some looks, but for the most part both goaltenders were sharp and up to the task.
As the period began to wind down, the Flames broke the deadlock. Jakob Pelletier was sprung on a breakaway chance, but Kevin Lankinen turned his shot aside. But Pelletier kept after the loose puck, retrieved it, and that allowed teammate Yegor Sharangovich to throw the puck on net, where Connor Zary redirected it past Lankinen to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
First period shots were 12-11 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 9-6 Flames (high-danger chances were 6-4 Flames).
The second period was feisty, featuring three fights and zero goals.
7:10 into the period, after jostling in the Canucks’ crease behind Lankinen, Ryan Lomberg and Erik Brannstrom tusselled.
Off the very next face-off, Kevin Bahl clashed with J.T. Miller.
A little after that, Noah Juulsen clashed pretty close to knee-on-knee with Mikael Backlund, leading to a scrum. (Juulsen was called for tripping on this sequence.)
The Flames ended up with 1:17 of five-on-three power play time midway through the period, but they could only muster a single shot on Lankinen during that advantage.
Later in the period, a bit after Lomberg got back onto the ice after his fighting major, he clashed with Derek Forbort.
Second period shots were 8-6 Canucks. Five-on-five scoring chances were 9-4 Flames (high-danger chances were 2-2).
A few minutes into the third period, the Canucks drew even on the power play. After Blake Coleman was called for high-sticking, Brock Boeser parked himself in the slot and redirected a shot from Miller past Dustin Wolf to tie the game up at 1-1.
But midway through the period, the Flames reclaimed the lead. On a rush sequence with some nice passing, Nazem Kadri converted on a wrist shot from the slot to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.
The Canucks pulled Lankinen for the extra attacker. Jonathan Huberdeau scored an empty-netter to give the Flames a 3-1 victory.
Third period shots were 11-5 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 8-2 Flames (high-danger chances were 3-1 Flames).

Why the Flames won

When this game was five-on-five, the Flames were pretty good. They couldn’t do enough with their special teams, and that’s why this game was close, but they did a nice job of managing their game, playing their style, and executing at five-on-five.

Red Warrior

Man, that line of Connor Zary, Jakob Pelletier and Yegor Sharangovich really stood out for positive reasons. They looked consistently dangerous with the puck.
But a lot of players wearing black jerseys stood out – among them MacKenzie Weegar and Ryan Lomberg.

Turning point

The Flames gave up their lead in the third period, but managed to retake the lead just three minutes later – before Vancouver managed to get comfortable in a tie game.

This and that

At the peak of the second period penalty frenzy, the Flames had three players in the penalty box (Ryan Lomberg, Kevin Bahl and MacKenzie Weegar) and the Canucks had five (Erik Brannstrom, J.T. Miller, Noah Juulsen, Nils Hoglander and Tyler Myers).
During the second period, it sure looked like Pius Suter tried to kick Kevin Rooney.
This was the Flames’ 13th home win: only Toronto, Winnipeg, Carolina, Vegas and Dallas have more this season.

Up next

The Flames (18-12-7) are back in action on Thursday evening when the Utah Hockey Club visits the Saddledome for the very first time. Don’t you dare miss it!

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