Calgary Flames come up short in final road-game of season

The Calgary Flames came up short in their final road-game of the season against the Winnipeg Jets. Let’s see how this game panned out.

The Calgary Flames played their final road game of the season against the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets still had a chance of being not only first in the Central division, but first in the Western Conference. A lot was riding on this game for them. Except… during this game, the Nashville Predators won their game, so they would clinch that first place spot AND the President’s Trophy. So ignore everything else about this.

The Flames, on the other hand, have basically nothing riding on this game but their pride. We would see some different line combos to start the game off tonight, with Johnny Gaudreau, Micheal Ferland, and Nick Shore on the top line and Sam Bennett and Spencer Foo joining Mikael Backlund on the second line.

The lines would somewhat get slightly shuffled throughout the game, but stayed like this for a majority of the game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for the Flames. They came up short and lost 2-1 to the pesky Jets.

They played a good game, I’ll give them that. But we’ve heard this story before. The Flames play a great game, but come up short due to some good goaltending from the opponent and not being able to find the back of the net.

Let’s see how this game came to be.

Calgary Flames

First period

The first period started out with some back and forth action between both teams. A little past two minutes in, Mark Jankowski got it over to Michael Frolik for a breakaway chance, but he was stopped by Connor Hellebuyck.

The second best chance for the Calgary Flames came a little past the eight minute mark from Jankowski over to Bennett, but Bennett couldn’t get a handle on it in front of the net. A few seconds after, Nikolaj Ehlers chipped the puck over the glass so the Flames will go on the powerplay.

The first half of the powerplay had some great looks to it and a few good scoring chances, but they couldn’t capitalize. The second half of the powerplay with the second unit wasn’t so effective, so the Flames would go scoreless with the man-advantage. They had some decent chances right as the powerplay expired, but it’s still a scoreless game.

The Flames had four shots and two scoring chances on that PP.

With less than eight to go, the Flames were in the Jets’ zone and Tanner Glass takes an interference call, so they would go on the penalty-kill. Up until this point, the Flames were definitely the better team. So we already KNOW that the Jets will score here.

The Jets had some decent chances early on in the PP and right as their PP ended, but Jon GIllies came up big and made some good saves.

Later in the period, Johnny Gaudreau had a big breakaway, but of course because it’s Johnny on a breakaway, he couldn’t score. Backlund and Mark Giordano had an awkward collision at the boards, but they both seemed to be ok.

With less than a minute to go, Dustin Byfuglien shot it from the point and with a redirection in front of the net from Blake Wheeler, they’re up 1-0. Who else predicted the Flames would be down after having an overall good period?

This period ended 1-0 for the Jets with the Flames outshooting the Jets 15-8 and had 17 shot attempts (5v5) compared to the Jets’ 10.

Second period

There was, again, some back and forth action from both teams to start the period off. But the Calgary Flames definitely had the edge in chances in the first couple of minutes. A little before the five-minute mark, Ehlers got some good chances on Gillies, but this was still a 1-0 game.

Michael Frolik had a few shots this period and almost had his second breakaway of the game just shy before the midway mark, but the puck was taken away.

With seven minutes to go, Ben Chiarot waited for Paul Stastny to get into position, shot it, and with a great deflection by Stastny, it’s now a 2-0 game.

Shortly after, with a slapper from Michael Stone at the blue line that bounced off Spencer Foo’s skate, it’s a one-goal game. And that’s also Foo’s first NHL goal!

Shortly after, the Flames went on the PK. The first half of the PK went well and they won a majority of the puck battles. In the second half of the PP, Patrik Laine had two great chances on Gillies, one was his own rebound, but Gillies made his best saves of the game and this was still a one-goal game.

This period ended 2-1 for the Jets and was definitely more evenly played, with the Flames outshooting them 10-9 and the Jets having 15 shot attempts (5v5) compared to 14 for the Flames.

Third period

Early into the period, the Calgary Flames took a penalty. But on the Jets PP, the Flames had the first good chance. The Jets answered back and one of the best goal-scorers in the NHL right now and the highest goal scorer on the PP, Patrik Laine, took a hard shot and Gillies came up big again and made a timely save.

Other than that Laine shot, the Jets never quite got another good chance.

About midway through the period, Frolik went face first into the boards and left the ice right away to go to the locker room.

Late in the game, the Flames went on their second powerplay of the game. With a good shorthanded chance by the Jets, the Flames would take a penalty, so their powerplay was cut short. Some scrums happened beside the net as a result, with Giordano and Adam Lowry going at it, and Mark Jankowski getting involved too.

Long story short, nobody scored, and this game finished 2-1 for the Jets. The Calgary Flames lose their final road game of the season, but it was an overall good game for the team. They put up 32 shots on net and had the slight edge in puck-possession and scoring chances (5v5).

Next: Flames Daily - Treliving speaks up about team

On to the next and final game on Saturday night.