Calgary Flames give up lead late, lose 4-2 to Minnesota Wild
By Ramina Shlah
The Calgary Flames had a lead but lost it with two goals from the Minnesota Wild in 1:35 in the third period. They couldn’t gain that lead back.
The Calgary Flames finish their two-game home-stance against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. And like the first game, the Flames lost, this time 4-2. After coming out strong in the first period and outshooting the Wild 18-8 with an early powerplay attempt where they had five SOG in that one powerplay, it was still tied at zero apiece after twenty minutes of play.
The Flames also lost Jaromir Jagr in the first period when he left the ice because of a lower-body injury. He ended up being out the rest of the game. The Flames still haven’t specified what it was, but they said he’d be out for further evaluation. He did still join After Hours for Hockey Night in Canada. Before Jagr left, he again (like the last couple of games) had many chances and everyone thought today was finally the day he’d be getting his first goal as a Flame. But, he didn’t.
In that first period, Jagr spent less than a minute on the ice at even-strength since he was on for a couple of powerplay chances. In 3:49 minutes of ice-time that he spent before leaving, during all events, including on the powerplay, the Flames had four legitimate scoring chances.
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Then in the second period with the Wild having a 5-on-3 powerplay and one of the best powerplays in the league, it’s somewhat expected what’s to happen. But they got the first goal and the first lead of the game from Chris Stewart. He now has at least a goal in five of the Wild’s six games. Late in the second period, Sean Monahan would finally get the Flames first goal of the game, and after a failed coach’s challenge for an offside review, the Flames head into the third period with the man advantage. Ryan Suter got an early slashing penalty on Johnny Gaudreau, who continues to draw penalties. The Flames now have their turn for a 5-on-3.
And it worked! Kris Versteeg notched his first goal of the season on that 5-on-3. And this is after not knowing if he’d be playing in today’s game after a hit to the leg, followed by a scary hit to the head in Thursday’s game. The Flames would now be up 2-1.
But after the fans decided to do the wave at the ‘Dome, the Wild would get two goals in a span of 1:35, giving them the lead again. With a late powerplay attempt for the Flames, they failed to find the back of the net and the Wild managed to score an empty-netter, ending the game at 4-2.
Some positives:
The Calgary Flames only took three penalties! After taking a million penalties every game, just three is quite an improvement.
The 3M line still looked solid, even though they didn’t get any points. Them, along with Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton, led the team in CF% tonight, all being between 58 and 59% (not including Jaromir Jagr but he played less than a minute at even-strength). And all three had oZS% of 33.3%. Meaning that even though they took more faceoffs in their own zone, they still managed to create more chances for their team than they allowed.
Another positive is that T.J. Brodie had two assists tonight, now bringing him to eight points. Fun fact: that’s now tied with Connor McDavid. This also ties him for fifth for points among all defencemen. Johnny Gaudreau had another assist tonight too, now bringing him to 11 points, and he’s quietly tied at seventh among all skaters for points.
After a strong first period, and a somewhat quiet, but still rather dominating second period, the Flames kind of fell asleep in the third period after the first five minutes. After they got the lead, they still had some good chances. But after about five minutes, the Wild definitely took advantage of the Flames lack of effort.
Next: Jaromir Jagr is finally looking like himself
If the Calgary Flames want to start winning again, they need to play a full 60. Simple as that. The Flames have also won just one game at home. Good thing their next two games are on the road, some sort of momentum shift needs to happen for this team.