Calgary Flames get a taste of their own medicine vs Vancouver Canucks

The Calgary Flames played a great game against the Vancouver Canucks but Jacob Markstrom put a great performance to give them the shootout win.

Well, it was a fun game and a great game played by the Calgary Flames. But unfortunately for them, Jacob Markstrom put up a performance of the season, stopping 44 of 47 shots to help the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-3 shootout win. This may have very well been his performance of the season.

It looks like the Flames got a taste of their own medicine. After going several games being outplayed yet continuing to win, it’s caught up to them. David Rittich wasn’t necessarily bad tonight, but it’s also quite unfair that the Canucks have Elias Pettersson on their team.

Some positives are that the Flames played a great game and hopefully they can keep that momentum up. Another is that Andrew Mangiapane finally got his first NHL goal! James Neal got high-sticked and lost four teeth in the process. We also saw the ref go and pick up a couple of them, so the Flames may have lost, but at least they weren’t the ref that had to pick up his teeth.

The Flames remain in the top Pacific Division spot, but the San Jose Sharks are just one point behind them. The Canucks are now just on the doorstep in the wildcard position and if they play the Flames in the first round, boy that’s going to be a fun series.

Let’s check out how the game got to this point tonight.

First period

The game started with a quick goal by the Canucks less than a minute in. With a nice feed from Chris Tanev over to Bo Horvat who quickly snapped it past David Rittich for his first goal in 17 games. The Calgary Flames answered back a little by getting the next four shots on goal in the next five minutes of the game. The best chance came from the Flames top line but they couldn’t get it on the net.

A few minutes later, as the Canucks were on a delayed penalty call, the Flames top line went to work again. From Sean Monahan over to Johnny Gaudreau who shot it but it was stopped. The rebound went over to Monahan who got it from the backend of the net, quickly passed it over to Elias Lindholm, and tied the game.

With under eight to go in the period, right after Rittich made a great save to keep the score even, Josh Leivo snapped a quick wrist shot a few feet away to take the lead back. But it’s alright because less than a minute later, the Flames third line won the faceoff and rushed into the O-zone. As Sam Bennett was attempting to put the puck on net and falling, it took a weird bounce and into the net for the equalizer again.

With seconds remaining in the period, Gaudreau was fed on a breakaway, but since it’s Gaudreau and breakaways, this period finished 2-2. Overall, this was a fun and fast-paced period and I wouldn’t mind seeing this in the first round of the playoffs.

The Flames outshot the Canucks 13-11 and the Canucks had the slight edge at 5v5 in terms of attempts.

Second period

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The second period started with it all basically the Calgary Flames. They had two great chances from the fourth line and then the first line and then the third line but it stayed 2-2. The Flames were outshooting the Canucks 10-0 in the first seven minutes of the period. Brock Boeser did have a great chance but he shot it wide. The Canucks finally got their first shot on goal over eight minutes into the period.

About 13 minutes into the period, Garnet Hathaway drop-passed the puck back to Noah Hanifin at the line, he had a great feed over to Andrew Mangiapane who snapped one into the net for the Flames’ 17th shot of the period, their first lead of the game, and Mangiapane’s first NHL goal!

Less than two minutes later, Elias Pettersson made a great play in the O-zone and fed the puck over to Brock Boeser who had a rocket of a wrist-shot to even things up again. This period finished 3-3 as the Flames outshot the Canucks 20-5 but unfortunately, this period wasn’t as rewarding to the Flames as much as they would have liked and Jacob Markstrom is a big reason for that.

As they completely outplayed the Canucks that period, they were looking for that momentum heading into the third.

Third period

The Calgary Flames started the third period on the powerplay, and while it was shortened and they didn’t get many chances, they went on the powerplay again a couple minutes later. The Flames top unit went to work right away and two great chances but Markstrom stood his ground and kept this an even game. The rest of the PP went scoreless but they had four shots on it.

A little past the seven-minute mark, Lindholm won a puck battle along the boards, got the puck over to Gaudreau who was basically on it with a two-on-one with Monahan, got it over to Monahan but he shot it wide. The Canucks answered back with a dangerous chance for themselves but this game was still 3-3.

Shortly after, the Flames went on their fourth powerplay of the game. This one was a double minor as James Neal was high-sticked and bled while he lost some teeth.

The Flames top unit was out there for a majority of the PP and in the second half of the double minor, they had some excellent chances but some blocks and saves by Markstrom and this one was successfully killed off.

With only seven minutes remaining in the game, the Flames took a penalty so they had a crucial kill. On that kill, Mikael Backlund had a great shorthanded chance but it was stopped by Markstrom. That was the best chance for either team on that man-advantage.

Right after that kill, Derek Ryan who just came out of the best fed the puck over to Gaudreau who had a glorious shot but probably the best save of the game for Markstrom kept this one even.

With a little over two minutes to go, the Canucks came very close to making this a 4-3 game, but it didn’t get to the net. With under two minutes to go, Gaudreau had another great chance and got the Flames’ 46th shot on goal, a season high.

With under a minute to go, the Flames kept up some good and sustained O-zone pressure but 60 minutes wasn’t enough to solve this, so this one needed some extra time.

OT/Shootout

The Canucks had the initial possession, which they kept for about a minute until the Calgary Flames finally slowed things down. With under two to go, Mark Giordano went down with a rocket wrist shot but it hit the post. Boeser went down the other way on a breakaway but it was saved by Rittich. On that play, the Flames took a penalty so the Canucks had a big powerplay.

Early on that PP, Horvat, like Giordano, hit the post, so not all the luck was on the Canucks side. OT solved nothing, so this one went to a shootout.

Pettersson scored the first goal. Tkachuk was the next shooter but he was stopped. Boeser was the Canucks second shooter and he was also stopped. The Flames second shooter was Monahan who was also stopped. Markus Granlund was the Canucks third shooter and Rittich came out of the net and made a good save to keep the Flames in this. But the third shooter was Neal who was stopped, so the Canucks won this one in overtime.

The Flames completely outplayed the Canucks in this game at 5v5 but the Flames got a taste of their own medicine and lost 4-3 to the Canucks in this Pacific Division battle.