Calgary Flames get shutout by Vegas Golden Knights

The Calgary Flames weren’t as offensively lucky as they have been as of late and get shutout by the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday afternoon.

Well, the Calgary Flames failed to score five goals in the first period so we may as well relocate the team at this point. That’s a joke, in case you couldn’t tell.

The Flames couldn’t find the offence they’ve been having their last few games and got shutout 2-0 by the Vegas Golden Knights. Credit to Marc-Andre Fleury though, who was definitely on one his sharpest games of the season thus far. They weren’t as successful as they were the last time these two teams met four days ago where the Flames scored five goals in the first period and won 7-2.

No fault on David Rittich either, who helped the Flames out as much as he could. He stopped 26 of 28 shots but unfortunately, his six-game win streak came to an end tonight as well. Let’s see how the Flames got here.

First period

About a minute into the game, the Calgary Flames top line had a great chance to open up the scoring but Marc-Andre Fleury made a great save to hopefully not give the Flames momentum to score five goals in the first period again.

A few minutes later, the Golden Knights had a great chance with their top line as well but David Rittich stopped the shot and stopped the big rebound as well. From this point until the midway mark of the first period, the Flames definitely tightened up their defence and seemed to be winning their puck battles.

Slightly past the midway mark, James Neal did a great job on the forecheck as the rest of the team was doing a line change which helped keep a lot of pressure in the offensive zone. However, only one shot resulted from that from TJ Brodie and it wasn’t a dangerous shot.

Past the 13-minute mark, the Flames went on the powerplay. They set up right off the faceoff and had a great chance but Fleury stopped it. Since those initial good chances, the Flames couldn’t quite set it up well after, so this PP went scoreless.

Under two minutes to go, Vegas got a slight rush and William Karlsson had almost an open net to shoot at, it looked like it was a for sure goal, but it hit the post.

This period finished scoreless with even shots at eight apiece and the rest was quite even as well with shot attempts and scoring chances. However, Vegas did have the big edge in hits with 20-6, but that’s a given with the number of faceoffs the Flames won.

Second period

The second period started out with some sloppy plays by both teams. None getting clean entries and the Golden Knights icing the puck twice in less than two minutes. Right after that, the Golden Knights had a two-on-one breakaway chance but Max Pacioretty‘s pass was nicely blocked by Brodie to take away the scoring chance.

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Around the five-minute mark, the Calgary Flames’ third line put great pressure in the offensive zone and, when Vegas thought they had a chance to clear, Neal stole the puck at the line and had a good chance on Fleury, but it was stopped.

The play got a little physical after this with Tomas Nosek giving a big hit on Matthew Tkachuk, making him go down and Rasmus Andersson going after Nosek with a crosscheck after. No calls were made, but these teams seemed to be heating up at this point.

With less than five to go, Cody Eakin shot the puck and with a great tip from Alex Tuch, this game was 1-0.

This period ended 1-0 for Vegas with Vegas outshooting the Flames 10-8 and definitely having the big edge over the Flames in shot-attempts and scoring chances.

Third period

Early in the third period, the Calgary Flames top line, which now had Matthew Tkachuk instead of Sean Monahan, had some good chances down low that were stopped. After that pressure, Johnny Gaudreau took his first penalty of the season. Vegas took about a minute to get going but once they did, Colin Miller made it 2-0 with a rocket on the PP. His last goal came on March 18th, also against the Flames.

A few minutes later, Vegas got another great chance that hit the goal post and then Rittich came down to stop the puck from going into the net.

Around the midway mark of the period, Dillon Dube was sprung on a breakaway but he missed the net. Right after, the Flames had two more great chances, but Fleury stopped the initial chance and stopped the rebound as well.

Later in the period, the puck went right to the slot and Mikael Backlund had a great shot on Fleury who made his best save of the game.

Inside five minutes to go, the Flames took a costly penalty and ate up some precious time they needed to tie the game up. Elias Lindholm had a great shorthanded chance, but Fleury was on his A-game tonight.

After taking out Rittich for the extra attacker, Tkachuk had a great chance on Fleury but yet again, he stopped it. The Flames continued to add pressure but nothing went past Fleury.

In the dying seconds of the game, these two teams were getting quite heated and Gaudreau took his second penalty of the game and second of the season.

This game wasn’t the sharpest for the Flames and the top line barely even showed up. Oh well. On to the next.