Calgary Flames Throwback Thursday: Game 6 Against the Canucks
By Ramina Shlah
As we’re all anxiously waiting for the season to start, let’s take a look at one of the best comebacks I’ve seen from the Calgary Flames: Coming back in Game 6 in 2015 against the Vancouver Canucks.
Hello Calgary Flames fans and welcome to another edition of Throwback Thursday! The segment we here at Flame for Thought bring you on Thursdays about something that happened in the past, whether that was last season or 25 years ago.
Last time, we looked at the time when Sam Bennett scored four goals in one game (and had a first period hat trick!). Today, let’s look at a specific game during the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2015.
Let me paint you a little picture. Its 2015 and the Calgary Flames are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in six years. This entire season, they were known as the “comeback kids”. They would always be down in games, but they managed to find ways to come back. Even them making the playoffs was a bit of a surprise since they were still in a rebuild. And they only clinched in the second last game of the regular season – against the defending Cup champs too – the Los Angeles Kings. This was only the eighth time in NHL history (after the initial expansion) that a team who won the Cup the year prior didn’t make the playoffs the following year.
Related Story: Throwback Thursday - Clinching in 2015
Right now, it’s game 6 in the first round of the playoffs. The Flames are facing an arch nemesis – the Vancouver Canucks. The Flames are up 3-2 in the series. And since they were the third team in the Pacific (last in points out of all teams making it to the playoffs), Vancouver had home-ice advantage. Meaning that for game 6, it would be in Calgary. Now, the Flames also hadn’t made it past the first round since 2004 – 11 years. One more win against the Canucks, and they’d be in the second round.
But the game didn’t start according to plan. Or did it?
First Period
The Flames were down 3-0 in the first period. Only ten minutes had gone by so far. A goalie change on Calgary’s end had already been done early in the period. Oh boy, this was going to be a long night…
But with about three minutes left of the period, the Flames got a lucky chance and there was somewhat of a two-on-one breakaway for the Flames. Matt Stajan got the puck and found Micheal Ferland and they managed to score a goal before the first period ended! But, they would head into intermission being down 3-1. Not exactly an ideal situation, but these were the comeback kids after all. This is the exact type of situation they liked to be in.
Lets move on.
Second Period
Calgary Flames
It was early in the period and the Calgary Flames knew they needed to give it their all. And they did. A minute into the period, the line who had dominated all season (except for the playoffs) finally came through. And just in time, too. Jiri Hudler, Sean Monahan, and Johnny Gaudreau were a line to watch all season long. But when the playoffs came, they were somewhat quiet.
But boy did they show up at just the right time. They made it 3-2 early in the second period and there was still plenty of time left.
With a little over 14 minutes left of the period, this line does it again. T.J. Brodie brings it to the attack zone, Monahan grabs it, gets it to Hudler, who gets it to Johnny, and…. SCORE! The Flames managed to comeback from a 3-0 deficit early in the game and tie it up at three a piece with still over half the game to go. Plenty of time to get ahead of the other team! But also plenty of time for the other team to get ahead of you.
About five minutes later, Luca Sbisa managed to make it 4-3 and the Canucks would again take the lead.
Third Period
The Calgary Flames again find themselves down heading into intermission. The score would remain 4-3 to start the third period and they got their work cut out for them. And they did. The Canucks pushed for most of start of the period. The first five minutes was basically all Vancouver. And finally, Calgary got a break and got a powerplay. Just what they needed.
There’s a little under 14 minutes left of play and who comes through again? None other than the Hudler, Monahan, and Gaudreau line. Gaudreau to Monahan to Hudler with good hand-eye coordination and… SCORE! The score is now tied at four a piece with less than 14 minutes left! Let’s try to keep it that way, hey guys?
But they didn’t. And for the better.
With less than five minutes left in the game, the Flames got an unlikely break when there was a giveaway in the neutral zone. David Jones shoots…. no goal. Ferland gets the rebound… but again, no goal. With another rebound, Matt Stajan takes just an extra half-second and finds the perfect shot, shoots it, and SCORE. A little over four minutes left of play and the Flames are now up 5-4 and everyone’s going nuts. The players on the ice are jumping, the entire bench is jumping, the crowd is louder than I’ve ever heard it before.
And to really secure their spot, the Flames added a sixth goal as an empty-netter goal. And the bench again went nuts. I mean, just look at head coach at the time, Bob Hartley:
Add another empty-netter to the mix and the Flames came back from being down 3-0 in game 6 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Finals to winning the game 7-4. And making it to the second round for the first time in 11 years.
Oh and of course, here is a highlight video of that game:
If you’re ever feeling down, just watch this game. Trust me, it’ll instantly cheer you up. Unless you’re a Canucks fan. In that case, I’m very sorry.
Next: Mikael Backlund's Case for the Non-Olympics
It was a fun round and an exciting game. Probably in my top five best games I’ve ever seen. Let’s hope this upcoming season has a game or two that make it in more people’s top five.