Flames Come Alive Late, But Vegas Streak Continues

Scoring:

1st Period

VGK [1]- Pacioretty (6) (Stephenson (13), Stone (11)) 17:06

2nd Period

None

3rd Period

VGK [2]- Roy (4) (Theodore (12), Smith (9)) 1:49

CGY [1]- Lindholm (11) (Andersson (12)) 9:19

VGK [3]- Dadonov (7) (Roy (9), Janmark (6)) 10:45

CGY [2]- Mangiapane (17) (Gaudreau (19), Tkachuk (10)) 17:19

Game Notes

Season Debuts: There has been relatively sparse lineup changes with Darryl Sutter this season, so two at once was unforseen. Adam Ruzicka slotted in for the injured Tyler Pitlick and played just over 8 minutes in his season debut. Michael Stone also played for the first time, sliding in for a scratched Nikita Zadorov.

The start of a bad trend?: It was a snoozer for the first 50 minutes of this one, as the Flames perhaps showed some signs of fatigue with another 3 games in 4 nights. They gave up the first goal for the third straight game on this road trip, after scoring first 18 times in the first 22 games.

Not again: While Mike Smith backstopped the Flames to an end to the Honda curse in the 2017-18, little did Flames fans realize that the possessed spirit of hockey arenas simply transferred to the newest addition. With tonight’s loss, the Flames fall to 0-7-0 all-time at the T-Mobile Arena, with just a pitiful 9 goals in those 7 games. Marc-Andre Fleury had blanked the Flames wayyyy back in November 2019, so entering the midway point of the third Vegas had carried a shutout streak at home that lasted over two years real time, and over 2 hours game time.

Precipice: With his assist on Mangiapane’s goal, Matthew Tkachuk notched point number 299. His next will give him 300 in a career that has spanned 374 games to this point.

What else is there to say?: Andrew Mangiapane burst onto the scene offensively when he potted 17 goals in 68 games in 2019-20. A scorching hot end to last year gave him a new career high in less games, with 18 in 56. Tonight, Mang scored his 17th goal in his 25th game. Insanity.

The big mistake: The moniker that has followed the young defenders during Darryl Sutter’s tenure caught Oliver Kylington on what would turn out to be the game-winning goal. An initial smart play by recovering the puck deep in Vegas’s end, he just hung on to the puck too long and was forced to give the puck away at the top of the circles. He actually had a pretty solid game yet again, but this play will surely be the only one that sticks in the minds of many fans.

Ping: It might have been a different story tonight all together, had the bounces gone another way. Kylington walked in on a beautiful setup and ripped it off the crossbar, Andersson found himself on a breakway, and beat Lehner but not the post. Finally, Matthew Tkachuk let loose a slap shot that was deflected by none other than Mangiapane with the goaltender pulled, but once again rang high off the crossbar and into the crowd.

by Gordie Taylor