Calgary Flames lose to Tampa Bay Lightning in 7th round of shootout

The Calgary Flames lead 3-1 after the first, but the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning won this one in a shootout.

The Calgary Flames had a great first period where they led 3-1 after the first 20 minutes of play, but after a bad second period, this game was tied up after 40. This game ended up being 4-4 after 60 minutes so it required extra time.

Unfortunately for the Flames, that poor second period cost them because the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning managed to keep it tied, get the lead, and take this one to extra time. They won this one in a shootout. Not just a regular shootout, but this one took seven rounds.

It was a fast-paced game almost the entire game and especially in overtime. Sam Bennett also probably had his best game of the season so far and hit 100 career points tonight while Johnny Gaudreau was all over the Bolts and is on a nine-game home point streak. Let’s check out how the Flames got here tonight.

Flames get badly outplayed, get shutout by Stars. light. Previous

First period

The first good chance came from Johnny Gaudreau almost three minutes in but the puck didn’t get to the net. Shortly after, Ondrej Palat had somewhat of a breakaway and David Rittich made his first save of the game. That line kept the zone pressure and the shot from Palat trickled past Rittich to give the Lightning the early lead.

Right after, the Calgary Flames came back with some pressure but couldn’t quite get a shot away. As the puck went back to the Flames zone, Matthew Tkachuk fed Sam Bennett for a slight breakaway and Bennett shot the puck which looked to be stopped. However, the puck trickled past Louis Domingue and Bennett found it behind Domingue and quickly got it into the net. 1-1 less than five minutes in. That was also Bennett’s 100th career point!

A few minutes later, right off the faceoff, the Flames right away got a scoring chance. Sean Monahan got the bouncing puck right in front of Domingue was able to slightly elevate it to get it past him. 2-1 Flames. Right after that goal, the Flames got another good chance from TJ Brodie skating his way through the neutral zone, but it was stopped.

About 12 minutes in, the Flames second line was putting in good work and adding the pressure. Sam Bennett won the puck battle and got it over to the line, which led to a good scoring chance. As Domingue lost his stick and was deep in his net, Bennett got it over to Mikael Backlund who got the puck on his backhand and made it 3-1.

The Flames got a great scoring chance in the final minute of the game followed by the Lightning in the dying seconds, but nothing resulted in them, so this period finished 3-1 for the Flames. Overall, it was a great period for the Flames, they outshot them 12-8 and outplayed the Bolts at 5v5 and they were rewarded for it.

Second period

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Right off the faceoff, the Calgary Flames had a shot in before the Bolts went the other way. After some passing plays, Rittich made a great save on Andrew Killorn to keep this a two-goal game. Right after, Bennett and Mark Giordano had a two-on-one breakaway and Bennett was taken down so the Flames went on the powerplay.

On the PP, the Flames had two shots but none were high-danger shots so this PP went scoreless. Right as the PP ended, Noah Hanifin gave the puck away in his own zone and Steven Stamkos was all alone in front of Rittich and Rittich came up big yet again. However, after that, the Bolts had another chance and as Stamkos was trying to pass it to Adam Erne, the puck hit Brodie’s stick instead and went into the net.

There was a bit of end-to-end action but the Lightning were clearly the better team to start this period. After a couple of chances on Rittich, Killorn finally got it past him and tied the game 3-3.

Following that, the Bolts got their first powerplay of the game so they went to work with the man-advantage. They had an initial early shot but then needed about a minute to get set up on the PP and once they did, they had one shot with a Stamkos one-timer which was blocked. That was the best chance for the Bolts on the PP and it went scoreless.

Less than a minute after that first PP ended, the Flames took another penalty, so they were shorthanded again. The Bolts couldn’t really set up all that well on this one either and the Flames even had a shorthanded chance. The rest of this PK was great for the Flames, they were aggressive and didn’t allow the Bolts to get clean entries.

There was some decent end-to-end action with scoring chances by both teams and with a little over two minutes left in the period, the Flames took their third penalty of the game. The Flames had a shorthanded chance again on this PP but otherwise, the Bolts didn’t have a lot going on until late on the PP that was blocked by Rasmus Andersson.

The Bolts got another couple of good chances in the dying seconds of the period but this period finished 3-3. This wasn’t a great period for the Flames and the Bolts outshot them 14-8. The Bolts also completely outplayed them at 5v5, but luckily, the Flames had three good penalty kills.

Third period

To start this period, it appeared as though Bennett and Elias Lindholm switched lines. There was a bit of end-to-end action again but the Calgary Flames were clearly pressing. Shortly after, the Flames took yet another penalty so they were shorthanded again.

They did another great job on the PK against a strong TBL PP. Right as the powerplay ended, the Flames had a great chance from Mark Jankowski over to Tkachuk who just came out of the box and over to Lindholm who hit the post.

A couple minutes later, Gaudreau had a great chance to get the lead but was shut down by Domingue. A couple minutes after that, Brodie had a great pass over to Gaudreau who again, had a great shot on Domingue but was denied again.

The Flames continued to press, especially from Gaudreau. But with under five to go, Dan Girardi shot from the point and it tipped off of Garnet Hathaway‘s stick and in. 4-3 lead with just 4:25 left in the game.

But no sweat because after many chances tonight for Gaudreau, he was on the breakaway and went five-hole to tie this game up with under three minutes remaining in the game.

60 minutes couldn’t solve this game, so this one went to extra time.

Overtime/Shootout

Early in overtime, the Bolts won the initial faceoff so they had possession. Early on, Brayden Point had a shot but it hit the post. Thank you post.

Right after, Gaudreau and Monahan had a two-on-one breakaway but Domingue had an incredible save on Monahan.

With a little over two minutes left, Giordano had a shot on Domingue that was stopped and then Monahan had about three shots back to back on Domingue who stopped all of them. Overtime wasn’t enough for these two teams so it went to a shootout.

In the shootout, this one took seven rounds but the Lightning managed to walk away with the W. I was surprised at Bill Peters’ decision to put James Neal since, you know, he can’t quite score that easily this season, but oh well.

Next. How to turn James Neal into Flames Neal. dark

It was an incredibly fast overtime but at least the Calgary Flames managed to walk away with a point against the best team in the league.

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