The Calgary Flames closed out 2017 by playing a pretty solid 60 minutes of hockey. They opened up 2018 by topping that effort. Facing a very good Los Angeles Kings club, the Flames had the bounces go against them for the first period but they just kept coming and ended up posting a 4-3 victory over a key divisional rival.

The home side got off to a bit of a slow start, with the club not doing a ton to generate scoring chances off the rush early. The Kings opened the scoring about five minutes in, with Derek Forbort’s low wrist shot from a wide angle found a hole in Mike Smith’s pads – shades of Brian Elliott – to make it 1-0. The visitors doubled their lead in the final minute of the period, as Dustin Brown sprung Tanner Pearson for a re-direct – Pearson had to beat out Matthew Tkachuk in a brief footrace – to make it 2-0. Shots were 15-13 Flames and scoring chances were 10-7 Flames, but the Kings got the bounces.

The Flames have been getting chances for weeks. The dam seemed to finally burst in the second period. They cut Los Angeles’ lead to 2-1 with a nice pass from Johnny Gaudreau that sprung Micheal Ferland on a partial break. He protected the puck and his shot trickled through Jonathan Quick’s pads.

A nice sequence of puck retrieval – repeated puck retrieval – made it 2-2. The Flames had a couple nice chances in the midst of a line change where Matt Stajan jumped on for Mikael Backlund. Stajan, Troy Brouwer, Tkachuk, Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton kept retrieving loose pucks and winning battles for the Kings tried to clear, and eventually Brouwer knocked in a rebound.

They took the lead off a great individual effort from Mark Jankowski. He pounced on a Kings turnover in their own zone. His initial shot was stopped by Quick, but the rebound bounced towards him and he bunted it in with the shaft of his stick to make it 3-2.

Sean Monahan made it 4-2 by finishing a nifty passing sequence off the rush with Gaudreau and Ferland. It was a goal in the final minute of the period, to boot. Shots were 13-5 Flames, scoring chances were 18-5 Flames. It was a one-sided period.

The Kings pressed in the final period, but the Flames defended intelligently – though they probably sat back a bit more than would’ve been ideal to see. Pearson added a late goal with the extra attacker to make it close, but the Flames held on. Shots were 10-9 Kings, scoring chances were 7-6 Kings.

When the Flames got down a couple goals, they didn’t abandon what they were doing: they doubled down. Their second period was perhaps the best 20 minutes of hockey they played all season. They battled. They hustled. They drew penalties. They scored goals. And in the third period, they defended intelligently and didn’t let the Kings get back into the game.

If they can play like this consistently, they’re a playoff team.

Let’s give a joint award to Monahan, Gaudreau and Ferland, who looked tremendously dangerous all game. But let’s be fair here: nobody had a bad game.

Jankowski’s bunt-goal. It was the right goal at the right time and it gave the Flames a lead they never relinquished.

For reference: the Flames were 21-17-2 (with 44 points) after 40 games last season.

The Flames (20-16-4) practice tomorrow, then they entertain another divisional rival in the form of the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.