The Calgary Flames played their final game before the trade deadline on Thursday evening when they hosted the Ottawa Senators. The Flames scored first and had a solid first period, but the Senators found their game in the back half of the contest and managed to take things over.

In a game that was a bit closer than the score indicated, the Flames lost 4-1 to the Senators.

The opening period was pretty disjointed, with lots of whistles. Neither team dominated, but the Senators just seemed unable to execute clean breakouts.

17:04 into the first period, the Flames managed to get one past Linus Ullmark. Matvei Gridin had a strong shift, constantly zipping around and winning battles for 50/50 pucks in the Ottawa zone. He passed the puck to Martin Pospisil in the slot. Pospisil didn’t blast the puck, but he got enough velocity on it that it eluded Ullmark to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.

First period shots were 8-8. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 7-5 Senators and high-danger scoring chances 4-1 Senators.

The Flames were decent enough in the second period, but the Senators were a lot sharper than in the first, made more plays and won more battles. Devin Cooley had to make a few big stops.

Midway through the second, though, the Senators finally broke through. The Flames couldn’t quite connect on a zone exit sequence, and the Senators intercepted the errant pass and kept the pressure on. A couple passes later, Lars Eller blasted a one-timer from just inside the blueline that beat Cooley to tie the game at 1-1.

Second period shots were 11-7 Senators. 5v5 scoring chances were 16-5 Senators and high-danger scoring chances 4-1 Senators.

The Flames opened the third period with three consecutive minor penalties. They killed off the first and the third Senators power plays, but the second one they weren’t as fortunate. The Senators won a battle along the side boards and Brady Tkachuk passed to Dylan Cozens in the slot. He was all alone because Kevin Bahl was waiting for a pass below the goal line, probably hoping they’d win the puck battle. Anyway, Cozens scored to give the Senators a 2-1 lead.

The Flames battled to try to tie the game back up, but to no avail. Tim Stueztle and Shane Pinto added empty-netters in the last two minutes of regulation to give the visitors a 4-1 victory.

Third period shots were 18-5 Senators. 5v5 scoring chances were 9-3 Senators and high-danger scoring chances were 4-1 Senators.

The Flames were fine. They started fairly strong but then fell off in the second half of the game. Meanwhile, the Senators found another gear in the second period and the Flames just could not match it. They also just made some miscues at bad times, between turnovers and too many penalties, and it hurt them in a close game.

Almost by default, we’ll give it to Devin Cooley. He was superb.

But honourable mention to Matvei Gridin, who was very energetic throughout.

Three minors in the first 10 minutes of third period in a tie game? That’s a recipe for disaster.

Newly-acquired Olli Maatta was not in the lineup, as he was still in transit to join the Flames. The defensive pairings, with MacKenzie Weegar now a Mammoth and Maatta in transit, were Kevin Bahl/Zach Whitecloud, Joel Hanley/Brayden Pachal and Yan Kuznetsov/Zayne Parekh.

Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was booed whenever he touched the puck.

Join Mike Gould and Robert Munnich right after the game for After Burner!

The Flames (24-30-7) host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. But first, the NHL’s trade deadline, Friday at 1 p.m. MT.