Recap: Flames lose in shootout to Caps

Washington Capitals 4 Calgary Flames 3 S/O

Despite late game heroics by Matthew Tkachuk in final minutes of the game, Mike Smith and the Flames were unable to seal the deal. Hamonic gets his first of the season in his second game back.

Scoring:

Calgary Flames

1st Period: Travis Hamonic (1) (Monahan, Gaudreau) 14:42, Elias Lindholm (7) PP (Gaudreau, Giordano)

2nd Period: None

3rd Period: Tkachuk (4) (Andersson, Giordano) 18:33

Shootout: Monahan

Washington Capitals

1st Period: Jakub Vrana (3) (Kuznetsov) 9:28, TJ Oshie (6) PP (Ovechkin, Kuznetsov)

2nd Period: Matt Niskanen (2) (Connolly, Jaskin)

3rd Period: None

Shootout: Kuznetzov, Backstrom

Final Thoughts:

T.J. Brodie once again did not look sharp. He continued his poor defensive coverage on the first goal of the game, skating up ice looking for a breakout pass before making sure the puck was out of the zone. This resulted in a 2 on 0, and an easy goal by Vrana. Not much Smith can do there. The next goal came off of a rebound from an Ovechkin one-timer on the PP. The shot caused chaos in front of the net, and led to an Oshie tip-in. The Flames began the comeback off of a shot by Gaudreau that deflected in off of Hamonic’s skate. Down one goal with about 1:30 left, Andersson shot it from the point in desperation, where it deflected off of Chucky’s stick and in. Andersson looked very good tonight. He finished with an assist and was second to Bennett with five hits. Smith was OK tonight. I didn’t like his effort on the Backstrom goal in the shootout. He stayed home and low, waiting for Backstrom to make a move, ultimatley place his blocker on the ice, leaving the whole top of the net open. On the opposite side, Stanley Cup Champion Phoenix Copley got his first NHL win. I think we will see Rittich in net when the Flames face the Leafs on Monday.

Flame of the Game:

Rasmus Andersson had a great game, posting an assist and 5 hits. He was also responsible for the game-tyer. Great job getting it on net when he had to. Andersson is the reason the Flames came out with one point.

by William Moran