Calgary Flames vs. Hurricanes: 5 members register points vs. former team

The Calgary Flames edged the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 while all five members on the ice registered a point against their former team.

It wasn’t their best performance, but it wasn’t that bad, either. The Calgary Flames managed to win 4-3 against the Carolina Hurricanes who pushed hard in the third period. All five members on the ice registered a point against their former team as well: Elias Lindholm, Derek Ryan, Noah Hanifin, Dougie Hamilton, and Micheal Ferland.

David Rittich put up a great performance today as well, stopping 34 of 37 shots to earn the first star of the game and help the Flames come back from their loss on Friday night. Ryan also put up an excellent performance, doing great things on the PK and registering a goal and an assist. Lindholm extended his point streak to ten games today.

Lindholm also decided to taunt Canes’ fans with their surge celebration at the end, which was hilarious.

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

First period

About a minute and a half into the game, the Hurricanes got their first shot and first good chance of the game, but David Rittich came up big to stop that second shot.

About four minutes into the game, TJ Brodie was trying to clear the zone but passed it right over to Sebastian Aho who fed it to Micheal Ferland and he spot Teuvo Teravainen for the 1-0 lead. A couple minutes later, Matthew Tkachuk was behind the net and got the puck over to Mikael Backlund who was waiting right in front  of the net and did a good job of getting a quick shot on, but it was stopped.

Shortly after, the Calgary Flames got the first powerplay of the game. Right off the faceoff, Tkachuk again got the puck from behind the net and got it to Sean Monahan who had a great chance but he was stopped.

Later on the powerplay, on the point Mark Giordano shot it and it deflected off of Monahan first, then Elias Lindholm’s leg and into the net for the equalizer. That’s now a ten-game point streak for Lindholm!

After that goal, there was some intense end to end action from both teams before the Canes took another penalty, so the Flames got the second powerplay of the game. This PP didn’t go as well for the Flames and they managed just one shot and no goals.

With under three minutes to go, the Flames took the first penalty of the game. On that penalty, the Flames did a good job initially of not letting the Canes get good chances or clean entries. Within the last 15 seconds of the penalty, the Canes pushed back a little, but ultimately it went scoreless as did the rest of the period.

The Canes outshot the Flames 14-10 that period and overall did much better at 5v5, as the Canes generally do.

Second period

Within the first minute of the game, the Canes had a good shot on Rittich before the Calgary Flames answered with a great chance of their own, but both were stopped. A little over three minutes into the period, the Canes took a penalty.

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Both PP units did a great job of keeping that pressure and had zone time for the entirety of it until the final second. The best chance came from the second unit when the Canes had a chance to clear the zone but ended up giving it away and James Neal got the puck and tried passing it but it deflected weirdly, so no goal came on this PP.

A little past the seven-minute mark, Derek Ryan went down the ice, went past some Canes defenders and made a beauty wrap-around for the first Flames lead of the game.

Shortly after that, the Canes put some good o-zone pressure and Rittich made a great pad save on #71. After that, the Flames took a penalty.

On that PK, Ryan (again) went down shorthanded, he spotted Garnet Hathaway rushing to the net, he shot it over to him and Hathaway quickly tipped it in for the 3-1 lead.

With under six to go, Backlund made a great move going down on a partial break and getting a good shot that was saved by Petr Mrazek. He let out the rebound and it looked like Michael Frolik was going to get it for a slight open net, but a defender shot the puck away at the last second.

With under five to go, as the Flames were attempting to clear the puck, it was intercepted by the Canes and from Jaccob Slavin to Dougie Hamilton, they cut the lead to one. Dougie… please stop scoring against the Flames, my heart can’t handle it.

This period finished 3-2 for the Flames as they outshot the Hurricanes this time 13-10. Overall, while it wasn’t too lopsided at 5v5, the Flames did much better than the first period.

Third period

Early in the third period, the Calgary Flames had a great chance which then resulted in a two-on-one breakaway for the Hurricanes. From Aho to Justin Williams, Rittich came over and made a BIG save to keep this a one-goal game.

Shortly after, the Canes had a big powerplay to even things up. On that PK, Ryan did a great job of finding the puck and clearing it down the ice  to continue to show he’s been one of the best players in this game. Later on that PP, the Canes did a great job of keeping that sustained pressure until the end of the PP, but it went scoreless.

After that powerplay ended, it seemed like the Canes had all the energy in the world. They continued with the pressure and were clearly the better of the two teams.

A little past the seven-minute mark, Jankowski and Sam Bennett had a great chance of a two-on-one but as Janko shot the puck, his stick broke, so not much happened from the Flames’ best chance all period.

With under seven to go, Noah Hanifin shot the puck from the point for the 4-2 lead. They ended up reviewing it for goaltender interference, but they found there was no interference, so it’s a good goal.

Shortly after, the Flames had another great chance of increasing their lead, but Slavin made a great play to take the puck away from Backlund.

With under three to go, Nino Niederreiter had a great chance but he shot it off the post. Following that, the Flames took a penalty. Early on the penalty kill, Ryan again went down the ice with the puck and got a highstick in the process, so we saw some 4on4 for 1:45.

Under a minute to go after the Canes took the goalie out for the extra attacker, Aho snapped it past Rittich right off the faceoff to cut the lead to one. With an assist from Micheal Ferland, that’s now all seven members on the ice getting a points against their former team.

While the Canes pushed hard after that third goal, it wasn’t enough and this game finished 4-3 for the Flames.

Overall, this wasn’t the worst game played by the Calgary Flames, and they played well against a puck-possession heavy Carolina Hurricanes team, but it wasn’t their best performance. Especially in the third period where they’re supposed to be one of the best in the NHL.