Flames Look Completely Disjointed in Loss to Jets

The Flames and Jets squared off tonight in Winnipeg in the second meeting of the season between the two clubs. Back on December 10 the Flames rode three point games from Dougie Hamilton, Matthew Tkachuk, and Mikael Backlund to a 6-2 victory in Calgary.

The Flames also haven’t won in Winnipeg since October 19, 2014.

The Flames did not change their lineup for tonight’s game while Winnipeg will have to cope for their first game without rookie sensation Patrik Laine.

1st Period

Calgary would get the first powerplay opportunity of the game when Matthew Tkachuk was high-sticked by Jacob Trouba.

Sean Monahan would get the best chance on the powerplay but for the most part the Jets shut down the Flames.

The Jets would get the opening goal of the game when Dustin Byfuglien jumped into the attack moving around the Flames best two defencemen in Giordano and Hamilton before burying a shot past Johnson.

The Flames would get their second powerplay chance of the game when Alex Chiasson was held behind the Jet net. The Jets would kill the penalty yet again without the Flames generating much.

The Jets would get a late powerplay when Mark Giordano went off for high-sticking. Calgary would get the kill thanks to a great save from Chad Johnson on a cross-crease one timer.

The opening period ends with the Jets up 1-0 despite the shots being 9-6 for Calgary.

2nd Period

After about half a period of not a lot happening the Jets would get a powerplay with Dennis Wideman taking a delay of game penalty. However the Flames would swiftly kill it off as the penalty kill stays strong.

For the rest of the period nothing really happened as the two teams played defensive hockey with both generating a few offensive chances but not much. The Flames best chance would come late in the period with Johnny Gaudreau getting a breakaway but he’d be poke checked to deny the chance.

After two periods, it’s still 1-0 Winnipeg with shots 18-15 for the Jets.

3rd Period

The Jets would make it 2-0 off a terrible Brodie turnover as Blake Wheeler snapped the puck past Johnson from the low slot.

About midway through the third period Mikael Backlund would be given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty despite being on the bench at the time. Again though Calgary would kill if off.

Calgary would get a powerplay with 5:18 to go to get a chance to get back into the game. Again though the Flames wouldn’t get much going.

The rest of the game would continue with nothing at all being generated as the Jets would leave with a 2-0 win. Final shots finish 28-27 for Calgary.

The Good

The Bad

The Ugly

The Flames record falls to 22-19-2 on the season but they remain in a playoff spot for the time being. The next action is on Wednesday night when the San Jose Sharks come to town, and if Flames have an effort that is anything like tonight’s, it’s going to be a lot worse than 2-0.

by Michael MacGillivray