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!
The Calgary Flames were not at their best to start Sunday night’s game with the San Jose Sharks. Heck, the Sharks got most of the early shots and scoring chances, and even opened the scoring. But the Flames, as they have done often this season, righted their ship after a poor start and rallied back.
The Flames stayed afloat in the playoff picture via a 5-2 home victory over the Sharks.
The rundown
The Flames were pretty flat early on and the Sharks were very energetic, which resulted in the Sharks registering the first nine shots on goal in this game. The eighth shot, Tyler Toffoli grabbing a rebound after a scramble out front, resulted in a Sharks goal to make it 1-0.
On the Flames’ fourth shot of the game, they tied it up. Adam Klapka held onto the puck in the Sharks zone near the point and passed it off to MacKenzie Weegar, entering the zone off the bench. Weegar took advantage of some space in the Sharks coverage and fired the puck past Georgi Romanov to make it 1-1.
A little bit later, the Flames took the lead off a gorgeous pass from Nazem Kadri. Kadri entered the zone, danced around Henry Thrun, and passed across the slot to the far post to Klapka, who beat Romanov to give the Flames a 2-1 edge.
First period shots were 15-6 Sharks. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 12-10 Sharks (high-danger chances were 5-2 Sharks).
The Flames pressed early in the second period and had some good chances, but they couldn’t bury anything.
A Flames player broke their stick inside their blueline, giving the Sharks a bit of extra space to manuever. William Eklund’s initial shot was stopped by Wolf, but Jan Rutta jammed in the rebound to make it 2-2.
Second period shots were 16-5 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 9-4 Flames (high-danger chances were 5-2 Flames).
90 seconds into the third period, the Flames took the lead. Morgan Frost calmed down a bouncing puck off a zone entry, then handed the puck off to Yegor Sharangovich. Sharangovich fired a wrister that beat Romanov to make it 3-2 Flames.
The Sharks got a power play later in the period, including a great scoring chance for Toffoli. But Wolf made a big stop.
The Flames pulled away in the later stages of the third period.
Mikael Backlund cycled the puck from behind the net to Matt Coronato in the slot. Coronato received the pass with his skate, kicked it up to his stick, and fired it past Romanov to make it 4-2 Flames.
Sharangovich added an empty-netter to make it 5-2 Flames.
The Flames held on for the victory.
Third period shots were 10-8 Sharks. Five-on-five scoring chances were 9-1 Flames (high-danger chances were 3-1 Flames).
Why the Flames won
The Flames looked flat early in this game, and Dustin Wolf had to be really sharp. But once the Flames settled in, they took over the game. Ignore the first 10 minutes of the game, and it was basically all Flames.
Red Warrior
A lot of players in red had good outings. We’ll give some attention to Sharangovich, who scored for the third consecutive game and brought a lot of energy when he was on the ice.
And once again, honourable mention to Wolf for his strong play early.
Turning point
We’ll go with Sharangovich’s game winner. It was the goal they needed when they needed it.
This and that
Sharangovich’s first goal was the 100th of his NHL career.
Up next
The Flames (39-27-14) are back in action on Tuesday night when they host the Vegas Golden Knights in their home regular season finale.
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