Calgary Flames 1 - San Jose Sharks 3

Complete Stats

Scoring

Flames

1st: None

2nd: 6:43: Lindholm (3) (Brodie)

3rd: None

Sharks

1st: 3:04: Meier (1) (Couture/Marleau), 10:13: Labanc (2) (Hertl/Karlsson)

2nd: 18:08: Hertl (1) (Couture)

3rd: None

Recap

You knew this wasn’t going to end well when Calgary came out hot, arguably out-played San Jose in the first period, yet went into the first intermission in a 2-0 hole. This has been an all too familiar trend with the Flames on the young season, but at least in San Jose the Flames looked like they were engaged from the puck drop.

Cam Talbot got his first start with the Flames during the regular season and it was kind of a mixed bag. He really couldn’t be blamed for any of the three goals he let in, but when you allow a goal on the first shot you face, that’s not good for morale. Talbot would eventually settle in a play a solid game in net for Calgary, stopping 17 of the 20 shots that came his way.

What was more frustrating in this game was how many scoring chances the Flames had, yet they couldn’t capitalize and they gave a struggling goaltender some confidence. Coming into this contest Martin Jones was in a bad place. The Sharks goaltender was 0-3-0 with a Save% of .854, but the Flames took that and did nothing with it. Jones stopped 32 of the 33 shots that came his way and looked like a goaltender who’s in control.

The Sharks put this one away in the first period on goals by Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc and San Jose spent the rest of the game standing up the Flames and making life extremely difficult for everyone wearing a flamming C. Calgary’s lone goal of the contest came off the stick of Elias Lindholm (3) and it looked like maybe all of Calgary’s hard work and push was going to pay off, but Tomas Hertl would squash that with his first of the season as the second period was winding down. That’s all San Jose would need to send the Flames home with a 3-1 loss.

Final Thoughts

This was a very frustrating game to cover because Calgary came out firing and really controlled the pace for a good chunk of this game. Calgary finished with 33 SOG, but they just couldn’t solve Martin Jones. Sean Monahan and Mikael Backlund may have been the most snake bitten of all Flames tonight. Backlund had six shots on goal, including a breakaway but he came up empty. Monahan was only credited with two SOG, but he took numerous other shots that just missed.

The Flames lackluster PP was, as usual, lackluster. The Flames had four chances with the extra skater, but they couldn’t find the back of the net. On the other side of the special teams coin they did kill both penalties that they took in the game.

This was a very winnable game for the Flames as they had a team in San Jose that dropped four straight games to start the season and looked really bad in doing so. But as is sometimes common with the Flames they are great at helping struggling teams get back into the swing of things. Calgary just didn’t have it in them to climb out of the 2-0 hole they put themselves in and they head home to Calgary losers of two straight.

Flame Of The Game

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

3M Line: The 3M Line as a group had a VERY solid game tonight, combining for 13 of the Flames 33 SOG, by far the most of any of their lines. Matthew Tkachuk and Mikael Backlund finished with the 3rd and 4th most minutes out of the Flames forwards and despite being moved around lately, Michael Frolik had a solid contest. When that line is clicking they are tough to play against and that was the case tonight.

What’s Next?

10/15: Calgary Flames vs Philadelphia Flyers, 7PM MT