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Calgary Flames

Flames Play Well Against Stars, Lose Anyway

Just not catching breaks these days.

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The Calgary Flames played one of their best games at home all season but were not able to get the right result on the scoresheet, falling 4-2 to the Dallas Stars.

First Period

The Flames opponent tonight was a Dallas Stars team that has been having a very rough go of it lately. 5 of their top 9 forwards are currently out with injuries, their goaltending has been greatly struggling and they were coming off an 8-2 loss to the Jets. Games like these are ones the Flames need if they want to get back on track.

The Flames had a really solid start to the game, with a few promising signs. The first line had a great shift a few minutes in and the Flames had a powerplay where they looked competent. The shots were 8-1 to the Flames halfway through the period, they were carrying the play. So of course, Lauri Korpikoski (who was at the Flames’ camp on a PTO) scored against that flow to make it 1-0 after a couple bad turnovers by Bennett. Not long after, John Klingberg rushed the puck up the ice and got the puck over to Jamie Benn after Bennett lost him on the backcheck and Benn made it 2-0 Stars. The Stars started to carry the play after that. No reward for a great start, the Flames were down 2-0 after 1 with the shots 10 apiece.

Second Period

The first shift of the period, Micheal Ferland hammered Seguin into the boards with a clean check, which brought Stars agitator Antoine Roussel over his way leading to a fight. Ferland threw a few bombs and they both went off for five. Shortly after, a good shift from the top line resulted in Gaudreau crashing the net and tucking in a shot from Brett Kulak that had squeaked past Kari Lehtonen. The Flames were on the board. Less than 2 minutes later, Kulak fired a shot-pass into the slot which Gaudreau got past Lehtonen with a really nice deflection. All of the sudden it was tied, great to see Gaudreau going.

The Flames also had two really nice penalty-kills in the period, with the second one featuring two dangerous rushes from everyone’s favourite PK duo, Backlund and Frolik. A really solid bounce back period for the Flames, leading the shot clock 10-4 in the period. It was tied at 2 after 40.

Third Period

The Flames got a couple lucky breaks early in the third, with the Stars hitting the crossbar and then the post in fairly quick succession. Unfortunately, they were not lucky enough tonight. After Alex Chiasson took his second offensive-zone penalty of the night, Jamie Benn tapped in a pass for his second of the game, 3-2 Dallas. The Flames made efforts, including a late powerplay that some good looks, but of course Kari Lehtonen actually had a good night tonight. The Stars scored with Elliott pulled and the Flames lost again, 4-2. They actually played well tonight, outshot the Stars 31-22, leading in Corsi For with 57.1% of the shot attempts (hockeystats.ca) and had some dangerous chances, but it did not result in a win.

Flames 3 Stars

Other Thoughts

Next Up

The Flames face a really good New York Rangers team on Saturday. It will be a tough test, but if they play how they played tonight, it should be an interesting game. They need to get in the win column again, it is still early in the season but they are losing ground.

by samwell9