Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!
Wednesday night’s clash between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks was hyped up beforehand as a big game for both teams with playoff implications. It lived up to the hype, as a pair of teams that really don’t like each other very much battled hard for a pair of points that both clubs direly need in their respective playoff chases.
In a really feisty game, the Canucks beat the Flames by a 4-3 score in a shootout.

The rundown

This game was pretty tight-checking and fairly even from the get-go.
Midway through the first period, defenceman Elias Pettersson (“D-Petey”) put a shoulder into Nazem Kadri at the offensive blueline. Connor Zary shoved Pettersson down in retaliation and got an interference minor penalty.
The Flames killed off the Zary minor, but 10 seconds after the penalty expired, the Canucks opened the scoring. A couple Canucks shots were blocked in front of Dustin Wolf, but Pius Suter fired a puck that glanced off Joel Hanley and beat Wolf to make it 1-0 Canucks.
But a few minutes later, the Flames answered back. (They had a power play that didn’t generate a ton of chances before this). Rasmus Andersson sent Kadri into the Canucks zone with a great pass through the neutral zone. Kadri faked a shot, shimmied past a Kevin Lankinen poke check attempt, and tucked the puck into the Vancouver net to tie the game at 1-1.
First period shots were 12-7 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 6-6 (high-danger chances were 3-1 Flames).
Midway through the second period, Ryan Lomberg took a cross-checking penalty on Quinn Hughes. On the resulting power play, a Hughes point shot was deflected in front of Wolf by Jake DeBrusk and found the net to make it 2-1 Canucks.
A couple minutes later, Brayden Pachal took a pretty tough penalty in the defensive zone – he was called for interference for basically stepping into Conor Garland well away from the puck. But the Flames’ penalty kill was pretty aggressive and it led to the game-tying (shorthanded) goal. MacKenzie Weegar made a head’s up pass across the neutral zone for Kevin Rooney. The pass missed Rooney, but he chased it down and it ended up as a two-on-none break for Rooney and Jonathan Huberdeau. Huberdeau buried Rooney’s pass to tie the game at 2-2.
A few minutes later, Nils Aman took a holding minor on Joel Farabee. On the resulting power play, with Yegor Sharangovich screening Lankinen, Huberdeau wired a shot from the top of the circles that beat Lankinen… and actually got lodged behind the back-bar of the net (where the net camera is). But it was ruled a goal and gave the Flames a 3-2 lead.
Second period shots were 7-5 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 6-2 Flames (high-danger chances were 4-1 Flames).
The Canucks generally held serve during the third period, controlling the puck and pressing for the equalizer.
The Flames had a power play early in the third period with a chance to get some insurance, but they couldn’t capitalize. The Canucks had a power play midway through the third period with a chance to tie the game, but they couldn’t capitalize.
With 6:44 left in regulation, the Canucks got the equalizer. Victor Mancini’s point shot was stopped by Wolf, but the rebound blooped out right to Elias Pettersson (the forward) and he fired the puck into the open net to tie the game at 3-3.
Third period shots were 17-4 Canucks. Five-on-five scoring chances were 9-1 Canucks (high-danger chances were 8-1 Canucks).
This game required extra time to decide. The Canucks and Flames had chances, especially Vancouver, but Wolf was sharp.
Overtime decided nothing, so they went to the shootout. Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland scored for Vancouver, while Huberdeau scored for the Flames, and the Canucks got the 4-3 victory.

Why the Flames got a point

For two periods, the Flames played some pretty good hockey at even strength. They took too many penalties, and that was a big reason why the game was so close through two periods. The Flames just couldn’t get much going in the third period and were on their heels just hoping they could survive, and their goaltender was excellent during the final 20 minutes.

Red Warrior

Let’s give it to Huberdeau, who scored a couple very nice goals. But give Wolf a ton of credit: he held the Flames in this game during the third period and helped them grab a point.

Turning point

Man, the Flames were really out-played in the third period by the Canucks. After Vancouver tied it up, Dustin Wolf had to make a few really nice saves to get this game to overtime.

This and that

Huberdeau is just the seventh Flames player in the past 10 seasons to score both power play and shorthanded goals in the same game. It’s only the 37th time in franchise history that a Flame has done it.
Mikael Backlund left the game midway through the first period due to an upper-body injury and didn’t return.

Up next

The Flames (30-23-11) finish off their homestand on Friday evening when they host the Colorado Avalanche.

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