Disclaimer: This recap is definitely not one day late, you’re definitely dreaming. This recap actually showed up during the third period, just like the Flames.

The Western Conference race is down to two teams, and they’re playing shot for shot, point for point, win for win. On a night that saw the San Jose Sharks score a game winning goal against the Winnipeg Jets with less than five seconds remaining in regulation, the Flames knew they had to keep pace against the New Jersey Devils.

The game started out strong for the Flames. Just over five minutes into the first, the top trio of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Elias Lindholm connected to open up the scoring.

However, in the tail end of the first, two separate Flames miscues led to goals from Blake Coleman and Kyle Palmieri. The first was an unlucky turnover from T.J. Brodie, the second was a bad clearing attempt by Mark Jankowski that led to a lucky tip-in past David Rittich. The Devils held a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

The second did not start well for the Flames either. Kenny Agostino, a familiar name tied to the Jarome Iginla trade, put the Devils up 3-1 less than a minute into the second frame. However, the Flames clawed back to tie the game up.

Sam Bennett wired home a goal from a slick behind-the-net-backhand-but-also-blind pass from Mark Giordano. Not long after, Elias Lindholm picked up his own rebound and tucked it neatly past Mackenzie Blackwood.

The Flames had momentum on their side, but on a late period power play, they gave up a shorthanded goal. A shot attempt from Mark Giordano led to a broken stick, and as he skated back to the bench to grab a new one, the Devils cleared the zone, and got a hardly contested 2-on-1 as Giordano wasn’t quite able to get back into position.

Considering the game outcome in Winnipeg, things were looking particularly bleak for the Flames. However, the third period came and the Flames completely took over.

Less than a minute into the third, they tied it. Derek Ryan got off a shot that was tipped by a defender and gently fluttered right under the crossbar to tie the game. On the ensuing play, the Flames managed to draw a penalty shot courtesy of a sneaky pass that landed on Gaudreau’s stick, leading to a breakaway. Gaudreau would not be denied, putting the Flames up by a goal for the second time in the game.

A minute and a half later, Ryan scored his second of the night, tapping in a virtually empty netter as a flawless pass from Gaudreau landed right on Ryan’s stick.

In the final ten minutes, the Flames happened to score three more times. Their seventh goal of the night was a hat trick goal for Gaudreau. Their eighth goal of the night included Gaudreau’s sixth point of the night. Their ninth goal of the night was Matthew Tkachuk‘s 30th goal and also included Oscar Fantenberg‘s first point as a Flame.

The Flames ran away in the third, and that earned them the victory.

Statistical Breakdown

Team Stats



All Situations 5v5 SVA 5v5 CF 62.6% 62.8% 62.4% SCF 60.0% 66.7% 65.2% HDCF 57.7% 56.0% 54.1%

5v5 Player Stats

Calgary Flames

Ryan led the Flames with 75.0% CF

Ryan, Andrew Mangiapane, Sam Bennett, and Garnet Hathaway all finished with 100% CF

Every single Flames skater was at least 50% CF

New Jersey Devils

Joey Anderson led the Devils with 70.6% CF

Damon Severson was a team low 25.8% CF

Only three Devils skaters were above 50% CF

Stats courtesy: Natural Stat Trick

Line Combinations

Calgary Flames

Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm

Tkachuk – Backlund – Frolik

Bennett– Jankowski – Czarnik

Mangiapane – Ryan – Hathaway



Giordano – Brodie

Hanifin – Hamonic

Fantenberg – Andersson

Rittich

Smith

New Jersey Devils

Coleman – Zajac – Palmieri

Agostino – Rooney – Stafford

Tangradi – McLeod – Anderson

Lappin – Pietila – Noesen

Greene – Severson

Butcher – Carrick

Yakovlev – Santini

Blackwood

Schneider

Stats courtesy: DailyFaceoff

Thoughts on the Game

The attitude towards the game quickly shifted among those tuned in. What started as groans and grumbles as the Flames seemingly let another easy win slip away turned into glee and galore as they assertively took back what was rightfully theirs.

An offensive breakout from the top line exactly one game after an offensive breakout from the 3M line will do wonders for this team’s confidence. They have their work cut out for them, especially as they’ll go down to the wire with the Sharks, but a huge collective sigh of relief was heard echoing in the ‘Dome after two big wins to rebound from their losing streak.

Review the tapes, see what worked and what didn’t, and get back into the style they know they’re capable of for the rest of the season and the Flames will be in a good spot as April comes along.

The Gaud, the Bad, and the Beautiful

Good: Seeing the top line break out for 14 total points is fantastic to see.

Bad: The Flames gave up far too many grade A chances against that led to goals for the Devils. Calgary won, but they’ll need to clean that up going forward.

Beautiful: Six points from Gaudreau. He’s simply amazing.

Next Game

Opponent: New York Rangers

Record: 28-28-13

Standings: 7th in Metropolitan

Season Series: 1-0-0

Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images