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 entered the third period of their game against the New Jersey Devils trailing 3-1. But they put together an impeccable third period comeback, rallying back to score four unanswered goals in the final frame.
The Flames shocked the Devils, winning 5-3.
The rundown
This was a pretty chippy game overall, especially in the opening period. Players on both teams were finishing their checks, and it resulted in some scrums and a few alternating power plays. (Neither team was able to cash in, though.)
Late in the first period, the Devils managed to get on the scoresheet. Nico Hischier chased down an errant pass from Johnathan Kovacevic into the Flames zone, then went for a skate around the end boards, pursued by Kevin Bahl. Hischier’s wrap-around attempt went off Adam Klapka’s stick and was stopped by Dustin Wolf before rattling around a bit, but Timo Meier zipped to the front of the net and jammed in the loose rebound to give the home side a 1-0 lead.
First period shots were 9-5 Devils. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 7-6 Devils (high-danger chances were 3-3 Devils).
The Devils had some strong chances early in the second period, including a sequence where Tomas Tatar had the puck all alone in front of Wolf, tried to use a shoulder move to fake him out, and then Wolf made the stop anyhow.
The Devils made it 2-0 just over five minutes into the second period. The Flames did a nice job disrupting a rush chance from the Devils, with Bahl making a nice poke check to calm things down. But the Devils maintained possession, and a point shot from Erik Haula glanced off Bahl and into the Flames net.
The Devils took a puck-over-glass minor penalty midway through the period, and the Flames managed to get one back. Matt Coronato had the puck at the bottom of the circles and attempted to pass across to Nazem Kadri, who was battling with Dawson Mercer around the edge of the crease. The puck went off Mercer’s stick and into the Devils net, cutting their lead to 2-1 and giving Coronato his second goal of the road trip.
However, the Devils restored their two goal lead late in the period. Paul Cotter got the puck in the Flames zone and headed towards the net, with Bahl in pursuit. Another Devils player was hanging around the slot, so Rasmus Andersson couldn’t cut Cotter off – that would’ve left the other Devil wide-open – but that allowed Cotter to cut to the front of the net and beat Wolf to make it 3-1 Devils.
Second period shots on goal were 16-8 Devils. Five-on-five scoring chances were 12-10 Devils (high-danger chances were 5-5).
The Flames pushed back in the third period as they tried to make it a closer game.
They were eventually rewarded, as a Connor Zary shot on net – with Kadri mucking around the net once again – took some odd bounces and trickled past Markstrom to cut the Devils lead to 3-2.
Wolf made a great breakaway save on Mercer midway through the third period on a Flames power play.
A little later, Daniil Miromanov tied the game with a great shot from the edge of the circles off a set-up from Blake Coleman. That made it 3-3.
A little later, Coronato rushed the puck up the ice. The Devils poked the puck away from Coronato, but ended up nudging the puck back to Jonathan Huberdeau in the slot. Huberdeau picked the corner on Markstrom to give the Flames a 4-3 lead.
Kadri added an empty-netter to make it 5-3 Flames.
The Flames held on for the regulation win.
Third period shots were 15-4 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 13-5 Flames (high-danger chances were 5-0).
Why the Flames won
Give the Devils credit: they’re a pretty smart, skilled hockey team. More importantly, they were opportunistic against the Flames. The Flames didn’t have too many breakdowns in their coverage, but the Devils took advantage of them and turned them into strong scoring chances.
But the Flames deserve a ton of credit. They kept on battling in the third period and managed to chip away at the Devils’ lead.
Red Warrior
Wolf had to make a lot of big saves, so we’ll give it to him.
Honourable mention to Kadri, who was creating havoc for the Flames around the blue paint on their first two goals.
Turning point
Man, the Flames were great in the third period. They were down two goals when the period began, but they did their thing, bore down on their chances, and got some strong puck luck en route to a big comeback win.
This and that
Both Joel Hanley and Martin Pospisil went down the tunnel after getting crunched in the first period. Thankfully, both of them returned to the game.
Up next
The Flames (32-25-11) have one more game left on their east coast swing. They’ll visit the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
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