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Calgary Flames

The Flames Win a Game! Flames 4, Sabres 3 (OT)

Monahan is money in OT.

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The Flames came back from being down a goal 3 times, and ended up defeating the Buffalo Sabres in overtime for their first win of the season, on this beautiful and proud day.

First Period

The Sabres opened the scoring 7:25 into the first, when T.J. Brodie turned the puck over in the defensive zone and Zemgus Girgensons (what a name) nicely tapped in a pass from Tyler Ennis that Chad Johnson had zero chance on. The Flames would respond before the period was up. With just under 4 minutes remaining in the opening frame, a great couple of shifts by the Flames led to Michael Frolik knocking in a rebound after a Brett Kulak point shot. There was a quick whistle while the puck was still loose, basically as Frolik knocked the puck in, so based on prior history in similar scenarios, it seemed as though the goal may be waved off. Instead, the referees conferred and made what was ultimately the right decision, it was just a surprising turn of events. It was Frolik’s third of the season, the team leader to this point. Brett Kulak also registered his first NHL point on the play with an assist, after having that Loui Erikkson goal taken away from him on Saturday.

The biggest bright spot in the first period was the 4th line, primarily Micheal Ferland, who came out flying from the start of the game and kept his intensity high throughout the entirety of the contest. The chemistry between him, Stajan and Chiasson was evident and it is just so refreshing to have a 4th line that is defensively responsible but can go out there and create scoring chances.

Shots were 15-6 Calgary in the opening period, the score was 1-1.

Second Period

The second period was very choppy. A Matthew Tkachuk shot tipped by Sam Bennett went off the post early in the period, with Tkachuk still looking for his first NHL point. The first line was doing work as well, creating a lot of pressure in the offensive zone leading to 2 penalties being called at once against the Sabres. 5-on-3 powerplays are usually exciting. This one was not at all. After a couple decent chances, Giordano took a high-sticking penalty, and the 5-on-3 was over, with the Flames ultimately not scoring a goal. The powerplay needs some work.

The penalty-kill on the other hand looked very good, but an unfortunate bounce off of Dougie Hamilton led to the Sabres taking a 2-1 lead. The shots were 8-4 for the Flames in the period, but the Sabres had taken a 2-1 advantage.

Third Period

Micheal Ferland would not be denied in this game. After a game full of great shifts, many shots and a lot of pressure, Ferland finally got on the board off a nice backhand shot in tight, to tie the game up a 2-2. The lead did not last long, as Marcus Foligno got around Deryk Engellend and put the Sabres back up. But something cool was about to happen…

Matthew Tkachuk took a pass from Matt Stajan, went into the Buffalo zone and fired one short-side past Robin Lehner for his first NHL goal, a big one to tie the game up. He had a fairly quiet game up until that moment, but he came alive after this. Seconds later, he laid a huge hit out on Sabres defender Jake McCabe. The following shift, he crushed Tyler Ennis, leading to a scrum, resulting in the Sabres’ Deslauries taking an additional roughing minor. Tkachuk can make things happen out there, it is too bad the team he draws penalties for has such a disastrous powerplay right now.

Although Chad Johnson allowed 3 goals in this game, he was overall solid and made some big saves, including stopping Marcus Foligno on a breakaway to keep it tied and denying Sam Reinhart late in the period.

It was 3-3 after regulation, thanks to Matthew Tkachuk’s goal, shots were 29-19 Flames.

Overtime

The Flames had a great overtime and it was awesome to see them get rewarded for their efforts. Ryan O’Reilly, who was the best Sabres player in the game, almost won it for the Sabres after stealing the puck and going in on Johnson, but was unable to bury the puck. After a 2-on-1 that Backlund and Giordano failed to convert on, there were big chances for Gaudreau, Monahan and Brodie that were denied by Robin Lehner.

The Flames won the game on a sold all around shift by their best players. Sean Monahan knocked down Sam Reinhart behind the net, got the puck back to Mark Giordano, who got it down to Gaudreau, who passed it across 2-on-1 down-low to Monahan, who scored another in an already long line of OT goals in his career. 6 to be exact, tying him with Jarome Iginla who played quite a lot of seasons in Calgary. The Flames get their first win of the season, 4-3 against the Sabres.

Flames 3 Stars

Other Thoughts

Next Up

The Flames are now 1-2-1 and will be facing the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night, time to get a bit of a streak going here.

by samwell9