Calgary Flames Win First Two Meetings Against The Minnesota Wild

The Calgary Flames win the first two rounds against the Minnesota Wild this season. Retaliation for the injury against Johnny Gaudreau?

The Calgary Flames and Minnesota Wild first met this season on November 15th at the Xcel Energy Center. The Flames won 1-0 in that first meeting where Chad Johnson earned his first shutout as a Flame. Since then, Chad Johnson has earned two more shutouts in just seven more games, now bringing him to 0.930 SV% and 2.06 GAA.

In that first game between the two, Johnny Gaudreau suffered an injury from a slash to the hand by Eric Staal. He suffered a fractured finger and would be out four to six weeks. Good news for Flames fans, but Gaudreau has started practicing with the team again. It looks to be closer to four weeks rather than six.

In this second meeting between the two, many fans and analysts were wondering if Flames were going to try and “retaliate” against the Wild. Especially since there were about three slashing calls against Gaudreau that the team wasn’t happy about. And one of them turned into an injury. So many thought Flames would be playing with a bit of an extra push. A bit more aggressive.

But by the way the Wild were playing tonight, you would have thought that they were the ones who wanted “revenge”. Especially in the first period where they got one too many penalties and one turned into a power-play goal for the Flames. Just their second on home ice in the season.

And boy was this a game. The entire third period and overtime I was on my toes. Flames managed to win 3-2 in a shootout. I swear I’m going to have an early heart attack if I watch one more shootout.

Also Kris Versteeg scored a goal and fell so he decided to hug Sean Monahan‘s legs and I think that deserves a mention in here.

Dec 2, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames right wing Kris Versteeg (10) celebrates his first period goal with right wing Michael Frolik (67) and center Sean Monahan (23) against the Minnesota Wild at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports /

Another nice thing about this game is that the two goaltenders are from Calgary. Well, Devan Dubnyk is from Regina, but he spent his childhood playing in Calgary. Like Johnson, he has also been a bit of a hot commodity as of late. On the season, he has a 0.946 SV% which is second in the league (of goalies who have played at least five games). He also has four shutouts, which is one more than Johnson.

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But looks like tonight, Johnson won the battle of the Calgary goaltenders.

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