Calgary Flames seven-game win streak comes to an end post bye-week

The Calgary Flames return from bye-week today and hope to increase their win streak to eight games vs. the Winnipeg Jets. Let’s see how they did.

The Calgary Flames are one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now. They’re on a seven-game win streak and they’re one of two teams that remain undefeated in 2018 so far. This bye week couldn’t come at a worse time for the Flames, but nonetheless, they’ll have to make the best of it. The Winnipeg Jets are also coming back from their mandatory five-day break.

Some players also have some streaks. Johnny Gaudreau comes into this game on a seven-game point streak, Sean Monahan is on a six-game point streak, Dougie Hamilton is on a five-game point streak, and Matthew Tkachuk is on a three-game goal streak. Mike Smith is also on a six-game win streak and was the second star of the week last week for his efforts. He’ll get the nod tonight. But the first star? Johnny Gaudreau.

Right now, the Flames sit in the third Pacific Division spot with 54 points in 45 games. A win today and they could move up to second place. At one point, the Jets were second in the league in the standings and first in the Western Conference, but they’ve slightly fallen. They’re second in the Central Division with 59 points in 46 games. These two teams seem like the lone Western Conference Canadian teams that may make the playoffs.

Related Story: Flames head into bye-week on seven-game win streak

These two teams have played once this season on the Flames home-opener. The Jets were up 3-1 after the first period, but the Flames scored five unanswered to win that one 6-3.

Let’s see how this game went down.

First period

The game started out with a bit of a slow start fo the Calgary Flames. The Jets were getting more zone time and Nikolaj Ehlers had a sneaky shot while the Flames were on a change. Five minutes in, the Jets were outshooting the Flames 4-2.

Less than eight minutes in, the Flames went on the first powerplay for a too many men penalty to the Jets. But that didn’t last long because Monahan seemed to get sandwiched between two Jets players in the offensive zone and there was a holding call on Monahan.

But that ended up being a blessing in disguise. TJ Brodie went down with the puck, had a two-on-one, delayed with the puck then shot it over Connor Hellebuyck for the first goal of the game. That was Brodie’s first goal in 44 games. And Monahan seemed happy.

After that goal, it seemed like the Flames woke up.

They pushed and it seemed like they got their second goal of the game. From none other than Troy Brouwer who would have his second point of the night. But the Jets challenged for goaltender interference, which was a good call, so this game will remain 1-0.

The period ended with the Jets outshooting the Flames 15-9, but the Flames have the 1-0 lead in this game. But the Jets definitely outplayed the Flames that period with 25 shot attempts compared to the Flames’ 11 (5v5). The Flames have some work to do.

Second period

The second period started with some good shifts from the Jets. A minute in and Ehlers, again, had a glorious chance on Mike Smith, but Smith had a glorious pad save on Ehlers. Then the Calgary Flames went back the other way, but nothing was really made from that.

Calgary Flames

The Jets were getting more chances than the Flames, but about eight minutes into the game, Tkachuk did what Tkachuk does best, and he drew a penalty. So the Flames will go on the man-advantage. Quick, someone on the Flames, take a penalty so it’s a four-on-four instead.

The Flames didn’t take my advice and couldn’t make it a two-goal game on the powerplay. The Flames had two shots on that powerplay and one scoring chance. Once their penalty kill ended, the Jets were right back in the Flames zone with some good pushback. Which paid off because Bryan Little shot it from it from the point which was deflected from Mathieu Perreault‘s stick. We’ve got a tie game.

Soon after, the Flames would go on the penalty-kill with a tripping call to Travis Hamonic. The Jets in their last five games on the powerplay are 6/16. Uh oh. The Jets had one good chance that hit the post, but the Flames actually had two good shorthanded chances. The second one from Mark Jankowski which resulted in a Jets penalty, which a few people thought it should have resulted in a penalty shot, but nonetheless, it’s a penalty. We’ll have some 4on4 hockey for 16 seconds then the Flames will head on the powerplay.

The powerplay was as a typical Flames powerplay is. But in the last few seconds, they started to push back. Unfortunately, no goal resulted in that. The Flames then took advantage of a Jets turnover and went back the other way with some good chances, but again, this game will remain tied.

The second period ended with the score being 1-1, but this time, the Flames outshot the Jets 11-9.

Third period

Right off the faceoff, the Jets were heading into the offensive zone and Mike Smith absolutely robbed Ehlers just a few seconds into the game. After that chance for the Jets, the Calgary Flames pushed back and were spending a decent amount of time in the Jets zone.

It was evident that the Jets were going to be using Ehlers quite a lot this period and the Flames were going to need to find a way to manage that. They haven’t quite yet.

Soon before the midway mark of the third period, Gaudreau drew a penalty and the Flames would be going on the powerplay. With 11 minutes left in a tie game, this is a BIG powerplay for the Flames. AKA it will remain completely useless.

The first chance came 1:20 into the powerplay from Dougie and Jankowski, but that was about it. As we predicted, an important powerplay wasn’t utilized that well.

In the second half of the period, you could tell both teams were being quite cautious as this is an important game for both teams. Both teams were trying not to get caught in the offensive zone, the Flames more so than the Jets.

60 minutes wasn’t enough, this game required overtime.

This season, the Jets are 0-6 in OT while the Calgary Flames are 6-1. I’m no expert, but those odds look good. The Jets won the initial faceoff and were in the Flames zone, but the Flames soon went the other way. TJ Brodie, the lone Flames scorer, had a good chance, but OT wasn’t enough to solve this one either.

In the shootout, Bryan Little was the first shooter for the Jets and he scored. Mark Jankowski was the first shooter for the Flames and he was stopped. Mike Smith managed to stop Patrik Laine for the Jets second shooter, but Monahan couldn’t find the back of the net either. Blake Wheeler was the third shooter for the Jets and with a goal, that would do it.

The Flames seven-game win streak comes to an end, but they still got a point out of this game. The win streak couldn’t last forever. At least they’re still undefeated in regulation in 2018.

Next: Flames Roundtable - Bye-week blues

This game finished with the Jets outshooting the Flames 35-31, meaning both goaltenders had to be sharp. Dougie, Johnny, Monahan, and Tkachuk’s streaks all came to an end today as well. Let’s hope Monday evening vs. the Buffalo Sabres is a better one.