The Calgary Flames hosted the Dallas Stars on Tuesday evening at the Saddledome. The Stars were, by far, the better and more opportunistic team. The visitors took the game over in the second period and threw it into cruise control from there.

The Flames lost to the Stars by a 6-1 score.

The first period was pretty even and back-and-forth for much of its duration. Both teams had their looks.

Dallas opened the scoring 8:44 in on a nice tip and a bad bounce. Sam Steel made a tip on a Matt Duchene shot… and his tipped puck hit Yan Kuznetsov’s leg and wobbled past Dustin Wolf to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.

But just 68 seconds later, the Flames responded back. Blake Coleman made a nice play, flinging a waist high puck towards the slot. Morgan Frost was right there and made a nifty little deflection, causing the puck to go past Casey DeSmith to tie the game at 1-1.

But 2:02 later, Dallas retook the lead. The Flames were caught a bit flat-footed on some Dallas offensive zone passing, leaving Jamie Benn with a clear shooting lane. Benn shot quickly, seemingly surprising Wolf, who didn’t have a chance to seal off the post. Benn’s shot beat Wolf short-side to give the Stars a 2-1 lead.

First period shots were 11-9 Stars. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 9-5 Stars and high-danger scoring chances were 2-2.

2:26 into the second period, a Mavrik Bourque shot hit MacKenzie Weegar’s glove – it looked like he was trying to swat the shot out of the air – and wobbled its way through the air, beating Wolf to give Dallas a 3-1 lead.

6:02 into the period, the Stars really took over. During a stretch of four-on-four play, Duchene turned Weegar inside out with some nice footwork and stick-handling, then threw the puck across the zone to Steel for a one-timer that made it 4-1.

Devin Cooley entered the game after the fourth Dallas goal, ending Wolf’s evening after 26:02.

The second shot Cooley faced beat him, as Nathan Bastian deflected a Nils Lundkvist point shot into the net to make it 5-1.

Late in the second period, with Adam Klapka in the penalty box, Duchene found Wyatt Johnston all alone in front and he tucked the puck past Cooley for a power play goal to make it 6-1 Stars.

Second period shots were 11-5 Stars. 5v5 scoring chances were 12-7 Stars and high-danger scoring chances were 5-3 Stars.

The Stars seemed perfectly content to run the clock in the third period. The Flames had some occasional looks, but Cooley had to make far more big stops than DeSmith.

The Stars held on for a 6-1 win.

Third period shots were 13-7 Stars. 5v5 scoring chances were 13-5 Stars and high-danger scoring chances were 10-2 Stars.

Let’s be honest here: if the Flames played their best game, they would probably be in tough to beat Dallas. Dallas entered this game on a nine game winning streak. They are, as the kids say, a wagon. They’re smart, skilled and opportunistic.

But the Flames did not play their best game. They were leaky defensively. They made some miscues with the puck. They took ill-advised penalties. They gave Dallas’ key players way too much time and space. They didn’t manage the game well. They didn’t get many big stops while the game was in the balance. They also kinda hung their goalies out to dry at key moments.

This was a team loss. The Flames, both individually and in the aggregate, failed to measure up to their counterparts on the visiting side.

This was a tough one to choose. The Flames were chasing this game and there weren’t a lot of strong performances for the home side, but we’ll give the nod to Devin Cooley. Bless him, he was battling in net and that’s all you can ask of him.

This game really good away from the Flames in the second period. They allowed four goals. Each goalie allowed two. They just did not have it any many points in the middle frame.

A bunch of Canadian Olympians were in attendance, as were Alberta premier Danielle Smith, Calgary mayor Jeromy Farkas and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

This was the third time this season that the Flames have allowed six goals – the prior times were Oct. 18 against Vegas and Dec. 16 against San Jose.

Join Mike Gould and Kent Wilson right after the game for After Burner!

The Flames (24-29-7) host the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

This article is a Presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the best warranty in the business with ten year warranties available. Check out the showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca