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Calgary Flames

Chad Johnson leads the Flames over the Blue Jackets 2-0

I think he is the number one.

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Troy Brouwer and Micheal Ferland scored, Chad Johnson had another terrific game and the Calgary Flames defeated the the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-0, despite being outshot 34-20.

First Period

Surprise everyone, the lines had changed once again. Kris Versteeg returned after missing 9 games due to a groin injury, which led Glen Gulutzan to put him on a line with Troy Brouwer and Sean Monahan. This meant Sam Bennett was dropped down to play on the wing of Matt Stajan with Alex Chiasson. Brett Kulak was put back in over Jyrki Jokipakka and thankfully, Chad Johnson was starting.

It was a very sleepy first period. Not interesting at all. The Blue Jackets had a couple dangerous scoring chances, but otherwise nothing of interest really transpired. Both teams had a powerplay each, both powerplays generated absolutely nothing. It was scoreless after one period, with the shots favouring Columbus 10 to 3.

Fun fact: the Flames had one shot at even-strength in the first period.

Second Period

The second period started off looking pretty grim. Matthew Tkachuk took a 4 minute penalty for high-sticking, which gave the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 40% home powerplay a good chunk of time to work with. However, the Flames PK stood strong and Chad Johnson made a big save off Nick Foligno, surviving the 4 minutes. Against the flow of the play, the Flames got on the board first. Troy Brouwer picked off a Columbus breakout pass, got the puck to Kris Versteeg who made a beautiful deke around Seth Jones and then slid the puck to Brouwer who had an easy tap in to put the Flames up 1-0. Versteeg is a solid playmaker, useful to have him back while Johnny is out.

A couple minutes later, a disaster nearly occurred, as Versteeg and Brouwer collided hard with each other in the offensive zone after a terrible Sean Monahan pass. The result was a Cam Atkinson breakaway for Columbus, where Chad Johnson gave him absolutely nothing to preserve the 1-0 lead. Versteeg would stay down for a little while, left the game, but thankfully he returned quickly.

There were chances both ways and the Flames did have a better period than the first, but they had the lead strictly thanks to Johnson. He was in the zone, stopping all shots coming his way. 1-0 Flames after two, shots 25-10 for Columbus.

Third Period

After the Blue Jackets took an offensive zone penalty, the Flames headed to their second powerplay of the game. While shorthanded, the Blue Jackets almost broke out of the zone for an odd-man rush, but Dennis Wideman made a huge hold at the blueline, chipped the puck to Micheal Ferland, who wired a wrist shot past Bobrovsky, 2-0 for the Flames.

The Flames played with a lot more jump this period and after getting the second goal they kept pushing rather than sitting back. They managed to survive the late Columbus attack with the goalie pulled, Chad Johnson preserved his shutout and the Flames emerged with a 2-0 victory. Shots in the third were 9-9, the Blue Jackets led 34-20 overall.

Flames 3 Stars

Other Thoughts

Up Next

The Flames record now sits at 9-12-1. Not phenomenal, but they are not far back of the pack. After a day off tomorrow, they will face the Bruins, looking to move to 3-1 on the road trip.

by samwell9