There was a portion of the second period where everything seemed to be going right for the Calgary Flames. But in Las Vegas, your fortunes can change in a split second. The Flames briefly had a lead but ultimately lost their fifth consecutive game at T-Mobile Arena, this time dropping a 6-2 decision to the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Rundown

Stop us if this sounds familiar: the Flames took an early penalty. Andrew Mangiapane’s interference call was 21 seconds into the game. The Flames killed it off, but the shift after the kill was complete Vegas managed to cash in. William Carrier chipped a puck on net. David Rittich made the initial save, but Tomas Nosek drove the net to poke in the loose puck to give the home side a 1-0 edge.
Shots were 9-9 and scoring chances 5-5 in the opening frame.
Vegas pressed in the early second period but the Flames weathered the storm. A broken play inside the Flames blueline sprung Mikael Backlund and Rasmus Andersson on a two-on-one. Andersson buried a wrister past Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the game at 1-1.
On the very next shift and very next rush, the Flames cashed in again. Johnny Gaudreau’s attempted pass to Elias Lindholm bonked in off William Karlsson to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.
But the lead didn’t last particularly long. Rittich made the initial stop on Mark Stone, but the Flames couldn’t clear the loose puck and he buried the rebound to tie the game at 2-2.
Later in the period, the Flames killed off a penalty on Elias Lindholm but seconds after the kill was complete Carrier took a pass from behind the net from Karlsson and chipped it over Rittich to give the Golden Knights a 3-2 edge.
The Flames had a power play later in the period and generated four shots (and zero goals). Shortly after the PP was complete, Paul Stastny managed to fire a shot between Travis Hamonic’s legs that trickled through Rittich’s five hole and into the net to make it 4-2 Golden Knights.
A late Flames PP generated five shots, but couldn’t get a goal. Shots were 17-10 Flames but chances were 9-1 Golden Knights.
Vegas put it out of reach in the third period. Sam Bennett and Mark Jankowski collided inside their own blueline. In the confusion, Ryan Reaves walked around Rasmus Andersson and beat Rittich with a puck that squeaked through him to make it 5-2 Golden Knights.
Cody Glass added a goal late in regulation, as his shot deflected in off Mark Giordano to make it 6-2 Vegas. Shots were 11-9 Golden Knights and chances 6-4 Flames in the final period of regulation.

Why the Flames Lost

Well, they always lose in T-Mobile Arena.
But this time, their problem was two-fold: they were’t particularly good in their own zone, with some challenging puck management and general disorganization throughout the evening. But they also couldn’t turn special teams success into any momentum. Three times, Vegas scored after the Flames killed a penalty. Another time, Vegas scored after the Flames generated oodles of power play chances.
The Flames did some nice things here and there, but couldn’t combine them into a complete 60 minute, 200 foot effort.

Red Warrior

We’ve got to give it to Andersson, as despite a fairly uneven defensive game he was the most consistently dangerous Flame in the other two zones.

The Turning Point

The Flames scored twice in 33 seconds to grab hold of the lead. But once again, their defensive zone play wasn’t good enough to keep the momentum going. Stone scored a couple minutes after the Flames took the lead, and the road team was left chasing from there.

The Numbers

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Percentage stats are 5v5.
Corsi
For%
O-Zone
Face-Off%
Game
Score
Brodie
60.9
40.0
0.075
Andersson
58.6
33.3
1.000
Frolik
57.9
33.3
0.075
Gaudreau
56.5
62.5
1.725
Ryan
55.7
42.9
-0.145
Stone
55.0
57.2
-0.125
Bennett
55.0
0.0
0.175
Monahan
55.0
62.5
1.105
Lucic
54.6
0.0
0.100
Rieder
54.6
40.0
0.025
Backlund
54.2
40.0
0.690
Lindholm
52.4
62.5
0.070
Mangiapane
52.2
50.0
-0.400
Hanifin
51.4
54.6
0.100
Giordano
50.0
33.3
0.500
Tkachuk
50.0
40.0
0.525
Hamonic
48.5
44.4
-0.025
Jankowski
45.8
20.0
-0.215
Rittich
—
—
-2.100
Talbot
—
—
—

This and That

Heading into the game, Flames had never led at T-Mobile. They led for all of 2:09.

Up Next

The Flames (2-2-1) are in the air tonight. They face the San Jose Sharks in Silicon Valley tomorrow night.
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