You can’t play the Lightning without thinking what could have been in 2004, and you can’t play in Tampa without thinking of that hollow feeling after game seven 13 years ago.
Luckily the now isn’t such a bad place to be as well, as the suddenly cruising Flames continue their hot hand on this stretch drive road trip grabbing a 3-2 victory from the Tampa Bay Lightning, putting a damper on their playoff hopes while helping their own quite a bit.
The win gives the Flames five out of a possible six points thus far on the trip, guaranteeing a .500 trip as they set their sights on much much more.
This playoff thing could happen me thinks!
The Flow
Glen Gulutzan started the Bennett line, a good move as they jumped on the Lightning early to get the Flames off on the right foot. The Lightning opened the scoring however, when Brayden Point took the puck wide before putting it back to the point where Colburn put it on net, deflected by Namestinikov, 1-0 Bolts. The Flames finished the period with back to back powerplays generating lots of great chances, but failing to beat Vasilevskiy on all counts. Shots on goal were 8-5 Calgary but the Lightning lead 1-0 after one.
The second period was about a good a road period as you’re going to see as the Flames limit Bolt chances, and drive the play towards the Tampa net. The Flames tie it up when a Mark Giordano point shot is deflected in by Mikael Backlund, the Swede continuing his hot hand. Sean Monahan finally gets that 100th goal monkey off his back when he deflects a Johnny Gaudreau backhander past Vasilevskiy and within 81 seconds the home side has their 1-0 lead turn into a 2-1 deficit.
Both the Flames and Bryan Elliott hold strong in the third period, keeping it simple, the Lightning to the outside with plenty of solid defending. The desperation level from the Lightning continues to rise and their play with it, but the Flames get their break on a late powerplay chance when Dougie Hamilton first hits a cross bar and then puts it home to make it 3-1 Flames, and the game looked over. The Lightning get a powerplay chance of their own however, and make it 3-2 creating a tight finish, but the Flames hang on and take it 3-2, huge win for the Flames.
1st Period – The underlying stats match what we all saw on tv, as the Flames have a solid period, edging the Lightning in shot attempts (five on five) 11-7 and scoring chances 8-5.
2nd Period – The Flames enjoy a 14-12 edge in shot attempts, and also in scoring chances by a 10-8 margin.
3rd Period – Classic bend but don’t break third period for Calgary, as they lose out 13-9 in shot attempts and 6-5 in scoring chances, but hardly sitting on a lead.
Players – Great game for Mikael Backlund as he was in the mid 60s again in shot attempts share, leading the team. Other guys in the 60s included Derryk Engelland, Gaudreau, Micheal Ferland and newcomer Matt Bartkowski, a huge sign for that rebuilt third defense pairing. Matt Stajan pulled up the rear at 27%, a rough night. Other guys under the 50% mark included Versteeg, Stone, Chiasson and Bouma.
1. Dougie Hamilton: Dominant night for the video bombing ex-Bruin, as he scores a goal, adds two assists, hits a cross bar, and keeps the Lightning from getting anything done when he’s on the ice. Becoming a huge factor every night.
2. Bryan Elliott: Wasn’t busy early but he was solid, and then kept the lead through a much busier third period.
3. Brayden Point: Picked up an assist and was dangerous with his speed all night, easily could have scored one in the second.
Big Save
Bryan Elliott wasn’t tested often in the first two periods, but when he was they seemed to be ten bell saves. One of his best was getting a stretched out right pad across the crease to rob Calgarian Brayden Point.
The Goat
Victor Hedman was a -2, something you don’t often see from the Tampa horse on the back end, but Alex Killorn’s lazy stick in Backlund’s legs with less than five minutes to play gave the Flames a late man advantage which they used to put the game away.
Mr. Clutch
Mikael Backlund. Scores the game tying goal, 65% in corsi, and has 100% of his zone starts away from the offensive zone. Quite a night, from a solid player suddenly becoming a star.
Odds and Ends
Despite giving up five goals in a crazy game in Nashville, the Flames went back to Brian Elliott for tonight’s game in Tampa; and for good reason as I didn’t mind any of the five he gave up and he was excellent in the first and the third to set the comeback up. … Second straight game with Dennis Wideman as a healthy scratch as Michael Stone makes his second appearance for the Flames. Tonight he starts with TJ Brodie on the second pairing, where he finished against Nashville, with Derryk Engelland sliding down to team up with Bartkowski. No changes at all up front, all four lines are in tact. … Further on Stone, the Flames have to feel good about the Stone deal when seeing 35 year old Ron Hainsley moving from Carolina to Pittsburgh today for a 2nd round pick and a low level prospect. First off I was shocked the guy was still playing, but equally shocked that the Penguins had to cough up more for him than the Flames did in adding Stone. … Matthew Tkachuk was shaken up with a third period elbow to the face by Jake Dotchin. You know when Tkachuk is hurt because he always bounces back up. Hopefully he’s ok, but he left for concussion protocol. … Quite a thing to have a third pairing near the top of the leader board when it comes to driving play. Wideman and Bartkowski pulled that off in Vancouver on Saturday night, and tonight Bartkowski and Engelland did the same thing. Sure helps the rest of the minutes when your bottom pairing share isn’t a fire drill … With the Flames picking up two points and the Kings dropping a regulation game to the Bruins in L.A., the Flames are now up four points on the Kings, with L.A. holding only one game in hand. The points per game percentage has them firmly in that 8th spot. The Predators won, so the Flames keep pace. Can we eliminate Vancouver and Dallas now? The Flames have 8 and 10 point leads on both respectively, a tough margin to make up. … With back to back games do the Flames go to Chad Johnson tomorrow night or stay with the hot hand and come back with Bryan Elliott again? Hate to wear the guy out, but I’d be tempted to stay with the hot hand.
Next Up
Right back at it tomorrow night, as the Flames cross the state from North to South to take on the Florida Panthers in Miami, game time 5.30pm MST on Sportsnet West.
Lines:
Tkachuk – Backlund – Frolik
Gaudreau – Monahan – Ferland
Versteeg – Bennett – Brouwer
Bouma – Stajan – Chiasson
Giordano – Hamilton
Brodie – Stone
Bartkowski – Engelland
Elliott
