Calgary Flames allow three goals in 1:24 vs San Jose Sharks
The Calgary Flames opened up the scoring but after allowing three goals in 1:24 against the San Jose Sharks, this one didn’t end according to plan.
Well, this one didn’t go according to plan. The Calgary Flames had a good start to this hockey game. They opened up the scoring early against the San Jose Sharks, but after three goals in 1:24 and a goaltending change, this one ended 5-3 for the Sharks.
After two bad goals by David Rittich, both within 1:13, Bill Peters decided he had seen enough and relieved him with Mike Smith. Well, that didn’t work out that well because the Sharks scored just 22 seconds later on their first shot on Smith.
On the other end, Martin Jones was incredible and was a big reason they won this one by stopping 36 of 38 shots. Elias Lindholm‘s 10-game point streak also came to an end tonight. The Sharks are now within two points of the Flames for that top Pacific spot but they have a game on hand.
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Let’s take a look at how this game turned out.
First period
After some end to end action for the first four minutes of the game, there weren’t many great chances by either team. Until Mark Giordano waited until a good amount of traffic in front of Martin Jones then shot the puck which Mark Jankowski tipped in for the early 1-0 lead.
The best chance for the Sharks came a couple minutes after that when the Calgary Flames gave the puck away in their own zone but the Sharks couldn’t get many shots away and the one they did was stopped.
At the 7:44 mark, the Flames went on the first powerplay of the game. The best chance came from when the first unit got out there and Giordano (again) shot a great shot from the point but it was stopped. The rest of the PP went scoreless.
After their PP ended, it seemed like the Flames had a lot of jump and urgency to their game, but shortly after, they went on the penalty kill. Early on the kill, Elias Lindholm had a great shorthanded shot but Jones made a good save on him. Less than a minute into the PP, the Sharks took a penalty so that nullified the rest of their PP.
On that 4-on-4, there was a turnover in the o-zone by Johnny Gaudreau to which Evander Kane got the puck. As he went down, he sneaked the puck through David Rittich’s legs for the equalizer.
As the Sharks went on the penalty kill, the puck was coming back to the Flames zone. Brent Burns was chasing the puck but Rittich thought he could get the puck first. Which he did, but the way he passed the puck was a little off and he passed it right over to Burns who had an open net. This was enough for Bill Peters and he switched the goaltenders.
A few seconds after that, Tomas Hertl got the deflection from Radim Simek for the 3-1 lead. Well, that was a bad sequence.
After those three goals in 1:24, it seemed like the Flames calmed down a little bit and had a bit of pushback. A great chance came from Matthew Tkachuk with under a minute to go, but this period finished 3-1. The Flames outshot the Sharks 12-10 but the Sharks had the slight edge at 5-on-5.
Second period
Through the first bit of the second period, the Calgary Flames had all the energy and the drive in the world. It was clear they were the team down 3-1 to start this period. The Flames had many chances and it was unbelievable how some of these pucks didn’t go in. Especially one from Tkachuk which looked like it could be a for-sure goal.
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6:33 into the period, the Flames went on the first powerplay of the period. It was a great PP overall by both units, but especially when the first unit came on and Gaudreau had a great chance when he tried for the wraparound goal, but Jones read what he was doing and quickly slid over to that side to stop that shot.
After that penalty-kill by the Sharks, they started to push back quite a bit.
With under five to go, Mike Smith made a great pad save but moments later, Hertl made a good play to separate Giordano from Smith and the puck and Kane made it 4-1.
With under three minutes to go, by a good chance from Garnet Hathaway, they went on the powerplay. On that PP as that second unit was on, James Neal did a great job of providing a screen in front of Jones. TJ Brodie shot the puck from the point and after a deflection off a Sharks defender, the Flames pulled within two again.
The second period finished 4-2 for the Sharks as the Flames outshot them 14-10 and had more scoring chances and attempts.
Third period
The Calgary Flames had an early powerplay. The top unit has some wild chances and all sorts of pressure but the best save came from Simek, the defender. Jones made a save and was out of the net, Lindholm had a great shot on an open net and Simek came and stopped that shot. The Flames had four shots on that PP.
Shortly after, Lindholm was on a two-on-one with Sam Bennett, shot the puck for a rocket of a wrist shot but it hit the post because of course, it did. At the midway mark, Smith gave the puck away and the Sharks had an open net but hit the post as well. So some luck was finally going their way. However, right after that, they took a penalty.
During that kill, the Flames did a great job at not allowing the Sharks to get any chances until more than halfway through, and even then, the Sharks managed just one shot. Right after, the Flames went on the PP.pl
With about five minutes to go, Noah Hanifin rushed up on the play for a great chance and as the Flames were wacking away at it, they got a powerplay. Early on the PP, Jones made the save of the game on Lindholm until the Sharks got a shorthanded chance later which resulted in a Flames penalty.
Late on the PP, as the Sharks were putting on some good pressure, Hertl round the rebound and made it 5-2 with under two to go. During that, Travis Hamonic looked to have injured his hand and went off.
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This game finished 5-2 for the Sharks as the Flames outshot them 38-30. Jones was a big reason for the win for the Sharks. This was a big Pacific Division game and now the Sharks are just two points back from the Flames but have played one extra game.
The Calgary Flames are in jeopardy of losing that first place division spot for the first time in months.