You never want to head out on a holiday with a bad day at the office clanging around in your skull. A bad transaction, a poor muffler job, a mistake on someone’s tax return, all could weigh heavily on you as you sip Mai Thais on a beach hoping to have not a care in the world.
Luckily for the Flames leisure time will be had with a sick grin on their collective faces as they outlast the hard charging Pittsburgh Penguins for a 3-2 shoot out win in the house of Crosby on Tuesday night.
Now it’s five days off, before resuming action towards the trade deadline and the drive to the playoffs.
The Flow
The Penguins, the best home team in the league when it comes to their record won’t be beaten often at home, and certainly not if you don’t get out to a good start. The Flames do just that in playing an up tempo game for the first two shifts, generating a couple of shots on goal and some solid momentum. Unfortunately Sean Monahan follows up one of the shots with a cross check (kind of like the aggression to be honest) and heads to the box for two minutes. The Flames are able to kill it off though, and then the team settle into a back and forth battle with chances at both ends. The Flames get back to back powerplays to finish the first, the initial opportunity very scrambly, but the second that ran out the clock had a few good chances. Teams are scoreless through 20 with the Penguins holding an edge in the play.
The Penguins were on it in the second period, really testing Chad Johnson in his first start since January 24th, but Johnson was equal to the task as the host team had the lion’s share of the play in the second period. The Flames weren’t out of it though, countering well and doing their best to limit the damage against a talented Pittsburgh team. After Johnson stones Sidney Crosby on a sure goal on a back hand, the Flames get a couple of chances including a Sean Monahan breakaway that is stoned by Murray. Calgary gets the lead when Micheal Ferland steals the puck from Crosby and goes end to end beating Murray to the stick side. The Flames double their lead when Michael Backlund gets the puck to Matthew Tkachuk on a three on two, Tkachuk quickly forwards the pass to Michael Frolik who one times it home and the lead is 2-0. Calgary looking to put a 2 of 3 road trip to bed heading to the third, their last period before the 5 day break.
The Penguins were like predators circling their prey in the third period; it really had that feeling of just a matter of time. Sidney Crosby thought he had his side on the board early in the third when he clanged a puck off the cross bar / post meet point, raising his hands in the air meekly though the puck didn’t cross the line. The Penguins did get closer soon after however when Chris Kunitz banged one home short side on Chad Johnson to make it interesting. The Penguins tie it up when a Troy Brouwer tip attempt to clear the zone is intercepted, Jake Guentzel with the game tying goal. Don’t think the Flames were on the ropes all period though as they too had good chances, including a zip around play by Johnny Gaudreau and a one timer by Michael Frolik that almost put things away. Game tied at 2 through three periods.
Interesting overtime period with the Flames getting a powerplay on a Daly penalty holding Sam Bennett. The Flames dominate four on three but Matt Murray and some timely shot blocks get the thing to a shoot out. Sean Monahan thought he scored his 100th on the four on three but the play was ruled dead because Murray lost his mask.
The Flames win it in the shoot out with the only player of the five shooters to score being Kris Versteeg, Chad Johnson stops all three Penguin attempts.
Possession Pulse
First Period – As it appeared to the eyes, the Penguins had a slight edge in five on five shot attempts at 10-8, they also had the edge in scoring chances 7-6.
Second Period – Big edge to the Penguins in the second as they held a 21-8 mark over the Flames. The scoring chances held a similar tune with the Penguins up 12-6.
Third Period – The third period had Pittsburgh up 18-13, and up in scoring chances 12-8. Clearly a great night for Chad Johnson.
Overtime – No five on five shot attempts clearly in a three on three overtime period, but the Flames held a 11-2 edge in shot attempts in the 5 minutes and had scoring chances 7-2.
Players – How’s this for a night? Every single Flames skater was under the 50% mark when it came to five on five shot attempts (corsi). The club’s top five were TJ Brodie, Dennis Wideman, Sean Monahan, Troy Brouwer and Matthew Tkachuk, all in the mid 40s. The guys dominated the most included; the Kulak/Engelland combination as well as Calgary’s fourth line.
1. Chad Johnson: Wow, quite a return to the crease! Chad Johnson stops 31 of 33 Penguin shots to pick up the win, his first since January 17th.
2. Michael Frolik: Scores a goal and almost scores another in the third to put things away. Had the assignment of the Crosby line all night to boot.
3. Mark Giordano: 28 hard mileage minutes on the night as the captain carries the biggest load for the Flames and was at his physical snarliest best.
Big Save
Easy one to isolate tonight as Chad Johnson takes one away from Sidney Crosby in the second period, extending his left pad to take away an empty net chance on the backhand from the World’s best player.
The Goat
No goat in this one. Bot teams came to play, both goaltenders came to play, no point in singling out any one player for a mistake or a tough night.
Mr. Clutch
TJ Brodie was a horse tonight and noticeable almost every time he was on the ice. He ended up -1 but it had little to do with him as Troy Brouwer coughed the puck up for the tying goal. He may just be getting used to life on the left side.
Odds and Ends
The end of a three game win streak is the perfect opportunity to mix things up a tad with a game on tap in Pittsburgh. The win and you’re in mantra has made the rounds in media circles so it will come as no surprise that Chad Johnson gets the start in goal. Like the Ottawa game before the all star break it provides an interesting opportunity to win one, then sit for about 5 days, then come back and attempt to add to a win streak. Additionally, Brett Kulak who lost his job to the flu not to a loss when he was replaced by Jyrki Jokipakka against the Devils on Friday night, returns to the lineup. And the fourth line got a shake up when Garnet Hathaway came in for Lance Bouma – keep in mind that Bouma took a heck of a jolt from Kevin Klein near the end of the Rangers game. … Thought it was interesting to see some deployment choices for Glen Gulutzan in the game. Using the fourth line against Sidney Crosby’s line says a lot about how this team is built and his faith in Matt Stajan. Fourth lines have traditionally been a black hole, so when you can use yours in a shut down role it really gives you a leg up on the road. … Another interesting wrinkle was the appearance of Sam Bennett in the extra period, as the young player is clearly growing his trust base with his coach. Given his miscues and penalties this year it says a lot to be trusted in a three on three role with winger Kris Versteeg. Under Bob Hartley Bennett was stapled to the bench for every overtime opportunity. So what does he do? Draws a penalty from Daly from moving his feet; he may get a look again. … The Blues also won, meaning the Kings who dropped a 5-0 contest to the Lightning are back out of the playoffs, at least in terms on points. … Will be nice to have this break push the games played back to even or so, as I’m so tired of the Flames always having three more games played then everyone else. They may actually have games in hand on a team or two when they come back. … Hedging the Flames playoff bets going into this trip took a true optimist to see rainbows, but now with two wins and a spirited game in the only loss there is certainly some hope. Recent looks at projections says 89 points will be required, which is 7 games over .500 in today’s standings. Can the Flames get four more games over .500 in 26 games? Certainly seems more possible than getting 6 games over in 26 games which they would have had to do with a loss tonight.
Next Up
Nothing! The Flames are on hiatus for the next five days.
Lines:
Tkachuk – Backlund – Frolik
Versteeg – Bennett – Chiasson
Gaudreau – Monahan – Brouwer
Ferland – Stajan – Hathaway
Giordano – Hamilton
Brodie – Wideman
Kulak – Engellend
Johnson
