The Calgary Flames continued their road trip on Monday night in Pittsburgh, hoping to start stringing some wins together. They were out-matched at times by the hometown Penguins but hung in there, managing to collect a hard-fought point via a 3-2 overtime loss at PPG Paints Arena.

The Rundown

The Flames opened the scoring in this game for the first time in seemingly ever. Dillon Dube took a feed from the side boards and drove the net, deking and beating Tristan Jarry low stick-side to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
But that lead lasted roughly 4:14, as Mark Giordano took a penalty. On the power play that followed, Alex Galchenyuk jumped on a rebound and put it past a prone David Rittich to tie the game at 1-1.
Shots were 12-8 Flames and scoring chances 8-5 Flames in the opening period.
The Penguins grabbed a lead midway through the period. Noah Hanifin coughed up the puck in his own end and Jared McCann buried a feed from Galchenyuk to make it 2-1 Penguins.
But before the period ended, the Flames managed to cash in on the power play to even things up. The initial shot by Johnny Gaudreau missed the net, but Matthew Tkachuk hustled, grabbed the loose puck, and fed Sean Monahan out front. His wrister caught Jarry moving left to right and tied the game at 2-2.
Shots were 13-9 Penguins and scoring chances 9-5 Penguins in the second period.
Neither team scored in the third period, though they both had their opportunities.
Shots were 13-9 Penguins and scoring chances 8-4 Penguins in the third period.
This one went to overtime. After a back and forth period of play, Gaudreau couldn’t score on a breakaway and Jake Guentzel scored going the other way beating Rittich under his glove to give the Penguins a 3-2 victory.

Why the Flames Got A Point

They were generally out-played through a good chunk of the second and third period, though not by a huge margin. But the Flames hung in there and didn’t let things get away from them during this game.

Red Warrior

He may have taken two penalties in this one, but Mark Giordano was superb in this game.

The Turning Point

The power play goal to tie things up at 2-2 was the right play by the right players at the right time.
The other turning point, obviously, was Gaudreau double-clutching on an overtime breakaway and not scoring. Right now he seems to lack that killer instinct with the puck.

The Numbers

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Percentage stats are 5v5.
Corsi
For%
O-Zone
Face-Off%
Game
Score
Backlund
64.5
50.0
0.640
Mangiapane
63.3
55.6
0.625
Tkachuk
63.3
50.0
1.250
Kylington
59.3
50.0
0.425
Stone
57.1
42.9
0.425
Gaudreau
53.3
60.0
1.075
Ryan
52.2
45.5
0.835
Dube
52.0
50.0
0.925
Brodie
51.5
56.3
0.150
Andersson
51.4
43.8
0.825
Hanifin
51.3
41.2
0.300
Frolik
50.0
0.0
0.075
Monahan
50.0
60.0
0.890
Lindholm
46.4
66.7
0.155
Lucic
46.2
40.0
-0.040
Giordano
45.7
56.3
0.200
Rieder
45.5
0.0
-0.050
Jankowski
40.0
0.0
-0.065
Rittich
—
—
1.200
Talbot
—
—
—

This and That

This was the first time in 10 games that the Flames have scored the first goal.
The Flames played 435:20 without having a lead in a game, setting a new club record.

Up Next

The Flames (11-12-4) are headed to Buffalo. They finish off their road trip on Wednesday, then head home.
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