Calgary Flames: Johnny Gaudreau extends point streak to nine games

The Calgary Flames and Buffalo Sabres went to overtime for a second time this season. Johnny Gaudreau also extends his point streak to nine games.

The Calgary Flames and Buffalo Sabres needed extra time for the second and final meeting between these two. Unfortunately for the Flames, they didn’t get the same result as last time and the Sabres took this one.

This also ended the Flames’ five-game win streak, but they’re still on a six-game win streak and are 8-1-2 in their last 11. That’s pretty decent. The Flames are still second in the league with 65 points in 48 games.

Johnny Gaudreau also extended his point streak tonight to nine games tonight and reached the 70-point mark for the third time in his young career. He’s one game shy of matching his career-high of a ten-game point streak. In those nine games, he has 20 points.

Everyone is busy fanning over Gaudreau and nobody is really talking about how Matthew Tkachuk also extended his goal streak to four games and point streak to six games.

Let’s check out how the Flames got here tonight.

First period

Right after the opening faceoff, Jack Eichel got somewhat of a breakaway but luckily hit the post. That was some great panic for the first 10 seconds of the game. A couple minutes later, Elias Lindholm had a glorious chance that was saved, Johnny Gaudreau tried for the rebound which was also stopped, then it looked like Derek Ryan was going to have an open net but he couldn’t quite get his stick on the puck.

A couple minutes after that, Gaudreau dangled around the Sabres which led to a good shift for the Calgary Flames top-line, but it went scoreless. Andrew Mangiapane then had a great shot a couple minutes later as he’s still searching for his first NHL goal, but it was stopped.

Around the midway mark, the Flames took the first penalty of the game so we saw our first powerplay. The Sabres had some decent looks in the first half of the PP, then after, Lawrence Pilut somewhat lost the puck at the blue-line which led to a shorthanded chance for Garnet Hathaway but he missed the net.

In the dying seconds of the PP, Mark Jankowski got a slight breakaway shorthanded, but it was stopped.

With about a minute left in the period, after the Sabres had a good shift in the offensive zone which could have left to a scoring chance, they took a penalty so the Flames got their first PP of the game. On the PP, as the Flames were trying to set up, the puck bounced over Mark Giordano‘s stick with only 12 seconds to go, so that seemed to do it. But that wasn’t what Gio had in mind.

He decided not to waste those last few seconds, got the puck back, had a good stretch pass down to Lindholm which led to a good shot by Lindholm. That shot rebounded and Gaudreau made it 1-0 with about 0.5 seconds left in the period. That’s now a nine-game point streak for Gaudreau.

This period finished 1-0 as they outshot the Sabres 13-11. Although the score and the shots look good for the Flames, the Sabres completely outplayed them at 5v5 in terms of attempts and scoring chances.

Second period

15 seconds into the period, this time, the Calgary Flames had an early chance. Michael Frolik was absolutely robbed by Linus Ullmark after Ullmark had a bad play behind the net which led to the scoring chance for Frolik.

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Around four minutes into the period, Gaudreau made a great toe-drag around the Sabres defender to create a scoring chance, but Ullmark made another great save. Less than a minute later, Rasmus Dahlin had a bad giveaway in his own zone which led to a good scoring chance for TJ Brodie, but he shot it wide.

About seven minutes into the period, the Sabres got a powerplay. On that PP, David Rittich made a good play with his stick to take away a scoring chance and the puck went down the ice. Following that, the Flames continued with a good PK and only allowed one shot for the Sabres.

Right after that penalty was killed, the Flames had incredible pressure as Gaudreau had a great chance, but the shot went wide. After the Flames continued to apply pressure, Matthew Tkachuk was high-sticked which went unnoticed and Casey Mittelstadt found Evan Rodrigues behind the play, shot the puck over to him as he got a breakaway and scored on Rittich, so it’s a 1-1 game.

After that goal, the Sabres continued to add some pressure and put on some good shots, but they were all stopped by Rittich. With under four minutes to go in the period, the Flames went on their second powerplay of the game.

On that PP, the Flames had some great scoring opportunities, but credit to the Sabres for blocking those shots. After a few attempts that were all blocked, this PP went scoreless. This period finished 1-1 with the Sabres outshooting the Flames 9-8, however, this time the Flames had the edge at 5v5.

Third period

The third period started with a good shot by Brodie, but it went high. The Calgary Flames continued with the good start and Sean Monahan had a good shot on net. It seemed to be initially stopped by Ullmark, however, it trickled through his legs and started slowly sliding into the net, but Ullmark noticed in time and caught it, so it was still a 1-1 game.

About five minutes into the period, the Flames continued with the pressure which led to a Sabres penalty, so the Flames went on their third PP of the game.

On that PP, in the final minute, the Flames top unit remained on which paid off. Gaudreau had a great pass over to Lindholm and it was clear Ullmark thought he was going to shoot it. Instead, Lindholm passed it right over to the stick of Tkachuk, who was waiting right in front of Ullmark, and the Flames made it 2-1.

Less than a minute later, Dahlin shot the puck from the point, and after a couple accidental deflections by some Flames players, it went into the net. Nothing Rittich could do there. A few unlucky bounces and it’s a tie game again.

A couple minutes later, Oliver Kylington had a hard slapper but it hit the post. That seemed to be the third post for the Flames this game. Shortly after that, the Sabres headed down the ice. As Lindholm had a chance to clear the zone, he passed it right over to Jake McCabe at the point. McCabe shot the puck and with a good screen by Kyle Okposo in front of Rittich, the Sabres made it 3-2.

A couple minutes later, the Flames then went down the ice. Lindholm went in front of Ullmark to act as a screen and potentially tip a puck in, Noah Hanifin wristed it from the point and tied the game up again.

Right after that goal, Tkachuk had a great chance to put the Flames on top again, but Ullmark made a great save to keep this a tie game. He put his blocker on the puck to take away that goal.

A couple minutes later, Mikael Backlund took a penalty. This was somewhat argued because Backlund was hooked first by Jeff Skinner which is why he got a high-stick there, but they only called the high-stick. The good news for the Flames is that they successfully killed this one off and didn’t allow a shot on goal on that PP.

The last few minutes saw some good chances for the Flames, but regulation solved nothing, so this one went to extra time.

OT

In overtime, the Sabres started with possession but Jack Eichel hit the post and they lost the puck soon to the Calgary Flames. It looked like Gaudreau and Giordano were going to have a two-on-one breakaway with Monahan coming from behind the play, but Gaudreau waited a little too long and by the time he passed it, it was no longer a breakaway.

Right after that, Eichel went the other way and managed to get around Gio and get it past Rittich. The Sabres took this one in overtime.

The third period was quite unfortunate for the Flames. They completely outplayed the Sabres, only allowing two shots against, but the Sabres scored on both of those shots. Overall, the Flames played a great game and outplayed the Sabres at even-strength, but they couldn’t come out with the W in this one.

Oh well, at least they got a point.