Calgary Flames: Mike Smith records shutout, Elias Lindholm scores a pair

The Calgary Flames made it a four-game win streak and a six-game point streak against the Minnesota Wild tonight.

Hey, maybe this isn’t just a string of good luck and the Calgary Flames are actually a pretty good hockey team? Who can really say.

Tonight, the Flames extended their win streak to four games and their point streak to six games thanks to two great wrist shots by Elias Lindholm against the Minnesota Wild. He was close to a hat-trick too that was later overturned due to it being a hair offside.

Mike Smith was also quite good tonight, stopping all 31 shots he faced for a shutout. Mark Giordano had two assists tonight as well to now lead all defencemen with 26 assists. Let’s check out how the Flames got here tonight.

First period

The Calgary Flames had a great chance about a minute in as Elias Lindholm fed Johnny Gaudreau on a breakaway but we all know how Gaudreau is on breakaways. He tried going five-hole on the backhand but it was stopped. Less than a minute later, James Neal had a great feed over to Andrew Mangiapane who’s still looking for his first NHL goal but it hit the post.

The Wild finally got their first shot on goal about six minutes into the game, which Mike Smith stopped.

Shortly after, the Flames went on the first powerplay of the game. And basically right off the faceoff like last game, the puck was passed back to Mark Giordano who shot it from the point and it hit the post. Again. I hate posts. The Flames top PP unit continued to push but they couldn’t get anything past Alex Stalock. The second PP unit wasn’t as successful so this PP went scoreless.

Around the midway mark, the Wild finally had a good scoring chance from Mikael Granlund but Smith stretched his pad out to make a great save, his first good save of the game.

Later, the Flames top-line (which has been incredible lately, or basically all season), put on quite a bit of pressure and credit to Gaudreau who kept the puck on-side, and after some passing plays, Lindholm got the puck and shot it which went off Eric Staal‘s stick and in the back of the net.

But.

Remember when I said credit to Gaudreau who kept it on-side? Yeah just kidding. After a coach’s challenge, they determined it was offside so it’s no goal.

A couple minutes later, the Wild had a few good chances on Smith and he made a great glove save to keep this a scoreless game.

Late in the period, the Wild went on their first powerplay of the game. They’ve been quite successful on the PP lately, but credit to the Flames penalty-killing and the Wild went scoreless. But as the powerplay came to an end, the Flames had four players go down the ice and there was a great chance from Lindholm to Gio, but Gio couldn’t quite get the puck.

With about a minute remaining in the period, Stall and Mikael Backlund took coincidental minors, so this period ended with some 4on4 which ended with no goals. The Wild outshot the Flames 11-8 in that period and completely outplayed them at 5v5.

Second period

Less than a minute into the period, both teams were still at 4on4. Gaudreau managed to steal the puck and go on a two-on-one breakaway with Lindholm on his wing. He got it over to Lindholm who shot it past Stalock. This one counted! Lindholm has such a good wrist shot and such a good release.

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After this goal, the Wild had a bit of pressure but nothing got past Smith. About five minutes into the game, Rasmus Andersson had a great chance for his first of his career but it hit the post. That’s the third post of the game.

Slightly past the midway mark, the Calgary Flames got a powerplay due to somewhat of a controversial penalty on JT Brown, but nonetheless, the Flames got the powerplay. They had some great chances in the first half of that PP but nothing that found the back of the net.

Shortly after, Noah Hanifin took a tripping penalty, so the Wild got their second powerplay of the game. On this PP, Matt Dumba had a great chance and Smith came up big to make the save. That was basically their only really good chance on the PP and it went scoreless.

Late in the period, Sam Bennett got a questionable slashing penalty, so maybe the refs were trying to compensate for giving Brown that penalty earlier. The Wild couldn’t quite get any quality scoring chances on that PP so it went scoreless.

In the dying seconds of the period, TJ Brodie had a great shot on Stalock which he stopped. This period finished 1-0 for the Flames but the Wild still outshot the Flames again 14-9. At 5v5, the Flames had the slight edge in attempts, but the Wild doubled the number of scoring chances.

Third period

About a minute into the third period, Gaudreau found Lindholm who went five-hole on Stalock for another quick-period goal. 2-0 lead for the Calgary Flames. With Giordano assisting on both goals, he’s now only one point away from 30 on the season. The Flames are currently the only team with four players to record at least 30 points on the season. He’ll become to fifth soon.

Shortly after, the Wild went on their fourth powerplay of the night and Jason Zucker basically had an open net but he fanned on the shot and that was basically their best chance on the PP.

After that PP ended, it seemed like it was all Flames, which is understandable seeing how they’re basically the best third period team in the league. The Flames weren’t giving the Wild almost anything in the neutral zone and were stealing pucks left and right.

Late in the game as the Wild took the goalie out for the extra attacker, Matt Dumba laid a big hit on Mikael Backlund who went straight to the bench. Bill Peters basically sent Ryan Lomberg out there to fight Dumba in which he got a seven-minute penalty for. And Peters may get fined for that.

Mike Smith also recorded a shutout! While he made some decent saves, he was also somewhat dramatic in quite a few saves, but I guess that’s Mike Smith. That’s now a four-game win streak for the Flames!