Connect with us

Calgary Flames

BC Alum Johnny Gaudreau Spoils the Bruins Trip to Calgary

Gaudreau's hat trick and timely goal tending help push the Flames past the Bruins.

Published

on

Well. That was some game! It only took 0:33 seconds to foreshadow who was going to factor in to this win. Johnny Gaudreau scored the Flames opening goal in what was a back and forth, excitement filled game.

The Flames benefited early from Boston Bruins goalie Jonas Gustavsson’s struggles with Calgary . The Boston backup was 0-4-1 coming into tonight’s contest against the Flames and his history didn’t disappoint. Before you could get settled in, Johnny Gaudreau crashed the net and scored his first of 3 in the game. That goal was the fastest goal Boston has allowed this season, which came off a Chara turnover. Combine that with Karri Ramo being hot at home and this seemed like a no brainer. The Bruins had other ideas.

After Mark Giordano scored the second goal for Calgary, Joe Colborne lost an edge setting up Boston’s next goal. He turned it over just before the mid line setting up the Bruins second goal and it didn’t stop there. Boston’s next goal came as Brad Marchand came streaking down the left side and picked the top right corner with a nasty wrist shot. Ramo played the angle well, but Marchand picked his spot perfectly.

Calgary grabbed their third goal of the game on a gorgeous feed from Jiri Hudler to Johnny Gaudreau. Per usual, Gaudreau worked his magic around the crease and slid his second goal of the game passed Jonas Gustavsson. Boston bench boss Claude Julien had seen enough and pulled Gustavsson in favor of Tuukka Rask. The last goal of the second period came as Chara buried a slap shot past the screened Ramo to tie the game at 3. Notably, the second period ended with Gaudreau and Marchand in the box. Marchand was talking a ton of smack to Gaudreau and, let’s face it, that’s not ending well.

The third period was back and forth with some very nice saves from each goalie. Karri Ramo continued to play well at home with some absolute, highway robbery saves which kept the Flames in the game. Just before the third was about to end Brad Marchand came in on a break away and was dumped which lead to a penalty shot. And with the freebie, Marchand buried the puck past Ramo giving the Bruins a 4-3 lead. Well, that held until, 19:58 when Jiri Hudler took a feed from Sean Monahan and buried a goal out front. It was reviewed for possible goalie interference, but the goal was upheld and Calgary narrowly took this game to overtime.

The Flames entered the extra session 5-1. Both teams traded scoring opportunities back and forth until 3:20 when the man of the night, Johnny Gaudreau, put home his third goal of the game giving the Flames a 5-4 win. This put the Flames at 10-14-2 and the Bruins at 13-8-3.

This is a huge win for the Flames. Ramo fought off some late pucks and the Flames skated hard for the win. When everything seemed to be going the Bruins way, the Flames dug just a little deeper and got the goals that they needed. This win ties them with Edmonton with 22 points and puts them 3 points behind the Ducks. There’s plenty of time to make ground and a win like tonight should only help the Flames keep pace in the Western Conference.

Flame of the Game:

Johnny Gaudreau. You can't really argue with a hat trick, especially when number 3 comes in overtime.

The Flames next play on Tuesday, December 8 when they they try and avenge a 5-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

by Mark Parkinson