Calgary Flames win third straight in Jaromir Jagr’s debut

The LA Kings were able to come back and tie the game up. But thanks to Matthew Tkachuk and Sean Monahan, the Calgary Flames took this one in overtime.

The Calgary Flames started the game off incredibly strong and basically dominated all of the first period. I guess Jaromir Jagr is a good luck charm (he made his Flames debut today). Except for a couple of powerplays that the LA Kings had in the first period (their first period barely generated any chances), the Flames were the better team. While the Kings still had more shots on goal in the first period, going 15 against the Flames 13, the Flames were up 2-0 after twenty minutes of play. And the Flames had more 5-on-5 shots with 9 versus the Kings’ 6.

The Flames also had more shot attempts – with 15 against the Kings’ 11.

With a goal from Matthew Tkachuk a little less than four minutes in on the powerplay, then four minutes after that, a goal from Michael Frolik with a beautiful pass that went in between the legs of Drew Doughty from Johnny Gaudreau, the Flames felt strong after the first period.

Then the second period came and the Flames basically fell apart. They went from 15 CF and 11 CA in the first period to 11 CF and 17 CA in the second period. That’s almost a 20% drop. They also basically wasted a four-minute roughing minor by Andy Andreoff, and barely even had any chances on that PP. And because of these poor attempts, Anze Kopitar cut the lead in half late in the second period with a snap shot – his third of the season. Mike Smith‘s shutout streak ends at 139:50, which is pretty darn impressive.

The Kings then started the third period on the powerplay, and while they didn’t score, the pressure that resulted from it led them to tying things up just 14 seconds into the period with a tip-in by Dustin Brown.

Less than two minutes later, another tip-in from Brown gave the Kings their first lead of the game. Cue the comeback? Well, not yet.

At the halfway mark of the third period, Tkachuk gets his second goal of the game – his second two-goal game of his career. It’s also his mom’s birthday, so happy birthday Mrs Tkachuk (who is younger than Jaromir Jagr). After an intense last few minutes of the game, things were getting quite heated. I don’t think these two teams like each other very much. This one would need some extra time.

And we know how much Johnny Gaudreau loves overtimes.

With some pretty passing, tic-tac-toe with Gaudreau and T.J. Brodie, and Sean Monahan gets the overtime winner. Last season, he beat Jarome Iginla‘s overtime goals record when he net his seventh goal. He just scored his eighth and of course, continues to lead in that category.

Oh, and something else cool:

Can you say Elite Status?

Next: Could this be Sam Bennett's breakout year?

Mike Smith stopped 42 of 45 shots tonight. He now posts a 0.950 sv% and is tied for the lead with three wins to start the season off. The Calgary Flames are now on a three-game win streak. Johnny Gaudreau is on a three-game point streak with seven points in that frame. And Brodie has five points to start the season off. Let’s just say this year is starting off much better than last year.