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!
Folks, we’re getting down to crunch time in the 2024-25 NHL season. The Calgary Flames have played themselves into the Western Conference playoff hunt, but they’ve had a few outings lately where they haven’t looked at their best. On Tuesday night, the Flames visited the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The Flames played a really effective road game against a Rangers squad that didn’t look at their best. The Flames bounced back from an early Rangers goal and took control of the game en route to a 2-1 road victory.

The rundown

The Rangers opened the scoring 73 seconds into the first period. MacKenzie Weegar lost the puck and then blew a tire, leading to a two-on-one rush for the Rangers with Joel Hanley defending. Artemi Panarin opted to shoot, beating Dan Vladar glove-side to make it a 1-0 Rangers lead.
After that goal, though, the Flames put together a pretty nice remainder of the period. They had a flurry of strong chances, and eventually they were rewarded.
Midway through the period, Joel Hanley cranked a one-timer (seemingly) intentionally wide and it rebounded off the end boards and bonked around the net-front area in the Rangers zone. Nazem Kadri zoomed into the slot area undetected and deposited the puck into the net to tie things up at 1-1.
The Flames kept pressing after they tied the game, including Jonathan Huberdeau ringing a shot off the post with about seven minutes left in the frame.
Late in the period, Matt Rempe got called for elbowing – he went to hit Jake Bean and because he’s very tall, he cracked Bean with his elbow… and also fell into the Rangers bench on the follow-through. On the resulting Flames power play, Matt Coronato won a face-off. The Flames made a couple passes, and Kadri fed Coronato in the slot and Coronato beat Igor Shesterkin to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.
First period shots were 15-5 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 13-8 Flames (high-danger chances were 6-4 Flames).
The middle frame was fairly quiet offensively, given that neither team scored. The Flames had a few strong chances, as Morgan Frost dangled through the Rangers’ defenders and nearly scored, then the Flames had a flurry of chances after a Martin Pospisil penalty expired.
Second period shots were 10-3 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 9-1 Flames (high-danger chances were 5-0 Flames).
The third period felt like a continuation of the second period. The Flames generated some looks, but couldn’t bury them. The Rangers struggled to generate much at all.
The Rangers pulled Shesterkin late in regulation for the extra attacker. The Rangers pressed, but the Flames defended well and managed to clear the zone. It looked like Blake Coleman added a late empty-netter, but it was reviewed – all goals are reviewed in the final minutes of regulation and overtime for anything that could be a coach’s challenge – and the goal was disallowed.
The Flames held on to win 2-1.
Third period shots were 11-5 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 10-6 Flames (high-danger chances were 3-1 Flames).

Why the Flames won

The Flames looked and played like the Flames usually do when they’re successful. Aside from the first few minutes of the game, the Flames played a really structured, tight-checking game. They didn’t take silly penalties or bad chances. They kept things simple at five-on-five, rolled their lines, did their thing, and that was good enough to get two points against the Rangers.

Red Warrior

Man, Matt Coronato was excellent in this game. He’s had games where he’s generated more points, sure, but he was noticeable just about every time he hopped over the boards in this contest.

Turning point

We’re gonna give it to Coronato’s go-ahead goal in the first period.

This and that

This was just the second instance this season of the Flames winning the second game of a back-to-back set after losing the opening game. They previously pulled off this feat when they lost to Detroit on Feb. 1 and then beat Seattle on Feb. 2.
Connor Zary returned to action after missing two games due to a suspension.
At the end of the first, Kevin Bahl’s errant stick caught J.T. Miller in the, uh, well…

Up next

The Flames (31-25-11) are sticking around the New York City metro area. They face the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

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