Recap: Calgary Falls In A Shoot Out 2-1

Calgary Flames 1 Winnipeg Jets 2 (SO)

Calgary’s 7 game winning streak is over as they fell to the Jets 2-1 in a shoot out this afternoon. The Flames got outstanding goaltending from Mike Smith, but Winnipeg got equally as strong goaltending on the other end from Connor Hellebuyck in a game that felt like a playoff game.

1st Period: Flames 1 Jets 0

After 5 days off, both the Flames and Jets looked well rested. If the first 20 minutes was any indicator this was going to be an up and down, back and forth affair. Calgary would get the opening and first marker of the period at 8:17 of the first period. The Flames would get a brief PP that was nullified by the first of 2 bogus calls on the Flames in the period. Sean Monahan would get mugged held interfered with, but he would some how pick up a holding penalty and the Flames would play 4 on 4 instead of being up 5 on 3. Penalty or no penalty, Calgary would capitalize and score. T.J. Brodie would steal a puck and keep it in the end, wait out Connor Hellebuyck and rifle one passed the Jets keeper giving the Flames a 1-0 lead.

Calgary looked like they were getting a two goal lead when Troy Brouwer would hammer home a fat rebound in front of Hellebuyck putting the Flames up 2-0. Hold the phone. Winnipeg would challenge the call due to goaltender interference. The refs and the war room would give it a look and determine that Matthew Tkachuk would bump a Jets player into Hellebuyck causing him to be out of position and the goal was taken off the board. Officials 2, Flames 0.

Both teams had solid periods and the Flames got excellent goaltending by Mike Smith, keeping the Jets off the board with 15 saves.

2nd Period: Flames 1 Jets 1

The first period saw some up and down skating, whereas the second 20 was much more physical. The Jets and Flames traded big hits through the period, but Winnipeg would get the only goal of the period. Mathieu Perreault would tie it at 1-1 halfway through the period. Bryan Little would take a pass in the face off circle and back hand it towards the Calgary net. Mathieu Perreault would tip the shot and Mike Smith never saw the puck through a screen and just like that, we were tied at 1-1.

The Flames spent the rest of the period getting lucky as the Jets would hit a post while on the PP and Calgary’s man up unit would go 0-2. Johnny Gaudreau had a few good scoring chances and the Flames had nice 2 on 1 from Mark Jankowski and Garnet Hathaway that they couldn’t capitalize on.

3rd Period: Flames 1 Jets 1

I’m just going to leave this here because this was the third period for the Flames:

Mike Smith OWNED the period and the Jets as he stopped all 9 Winnipeg shots in the period and none of them were easy by any stretch of the imagination. Calgary had a few opportunities on offence, but couldn’t solve Connor Hellebuyck.

Overtime: Flames 1 Jets 1

Wow. Still breathing? Overtime solved nothing in this one as each team traded scoring chances, but as was the case with regulation, the goalies stood tall and we were headed to a shootout.

Shootout: Flames 1 Jets 2

The Jets just are better in shootouts. Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler would score in the shoot out round, while Mark Jankowski and Sean Monahan would come up empty and the Jets would get 2 points with a 2-1 win.

Final Thoughts

The Flames winning streak is over at 7 games, but they did pick up a point in their 2-1 SO loss. Mike Smith had another dominant game in net and deserved better as the Flames couldn’t muster nay offence to get going. Even with a 5 day break the Flames still looked confident and played extremely well and didn’t look rusty at all. The goal taken off board hurt the Flames clearly, but they played through it and at least picked up 1 point in the tight playoff race in the Western Conference. Shoot outs are still lame.

Flame Of The Game

Mike Smith (G). Smith once again stood tall for the Flames and was the reason they even got to OT and a shoot out. Smith stopped 34 of the 35 shots that came his way, many a 10 on the scale of difficulty.

What’s Next?

1/22/18: Calgary vs Buffalo 7 PM MT

by Mark Parkinson