Calgary Flames 4 - Vancouver Canucks 3

Scoring

1st: VAN (3:51)- Pearson (5) (Hughes/Myers), VAN (14:44) Horvat (7) (Boeser/Miller), CGY (19:35) Lucic (4) (Andersson/Mackey)

2nd: CGY (10:40) Lindholm (5) (Andersson), CGY (15:51) Dube (unassisted)

3rd: VAN (19:29) Boeser (11) (Myers/Pettersson)

OT: CGY (00:23) Gaudreau (9) (Monahan/Lindholm)

Recap

It’s safe to say that tonight’s game between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks wasn’t exactly a disciplined game. By the time things were said and done, there were a combined ten powerplays and some real sloppy hockey.

The Flames were looking for a better performance after an embarrassing 3-1 loss on Saturday night where they allowed 46 shots. To do so, they made major lineup changes, most notably swapping Juuso Valimaki up with Mark Giordano while Connor Mackey was with Rasmus Andersson. Up front Buddy Robinson and Dominik Simon drew in for Josh Leivo and the injured Mikael Backlund.

As per Flames standards, the opening period was pretty pathetic. An early penalty to Dillon Dube gave the Canucks a chance they wouldn’t miss as Tanner Pearson deflected a point shot to make it 1-0. Overall it would be a low event period for the most part but Vancouver would make it 2-0 a bit later as the Flames took their third and fourth penalties OF THE PERIOD and Bo Horvat would finish a nifty passing play on the two man advantage.

Luckily we’d actually see some pushback from Calgary as they upped the pressure late on the frame. They were finally rewarded with Milan Lucic scoring his fourth (!!!) of the season off a nice centering pass. Connor Mackey picked up his first NHL point in the goal.

The Flames controlled more of the play in the second and Elias Lindholm would tie the game on the breakaway with a perfect low blocker shot. Rasmus Andersson made a perfect saucer pass right on his tape and he pulled away, with impressive plays from both Swedes.

Calgary would then get their first lead of the game off a weird play as Nate Schmidt tried to clear the puck from behind the net and hit Dillon Adobe which deflected the puck into Demko’s skates and then it would trickle in with Lucic jamming it home for good measure. The goal was credited to Dube and it was 3-2 Flames.

The Canucks would push in the third as things got chippy but everything looked pretty much done when Vancouver took a hooking call in the last two minutes. However off an offensive zone draw with the goalie pulled, Brock Boeser beat Markstrom through traffic for the tying goal which was technically shorthanded.

The game went to overtime but Calgary would get the win on the carried over powerplay. A bit of passing would set up Johnny Gaudreau for a one-timer down low and he’d make no mistake for his ninth of the season.

Final Thoughts

• Connor Mackey had a bit of rough night with three minor penalties, although a couple of them seemed a bit flaky
• The Lucic-Bennett-Dube line reunited from the bubble playoffs really got better as the night went on
• Despite the three goals it was another solid night from Markstrom
• Calgary’s PP really needs some work over the next few days. The bump back has gotten stale fast.
• Overall way better game than the other night.

Flame of the Game

Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images

Rasmus Andersson: A couple of very nice assists and an all around solid game for #4. He continues to improve which is extremely exciting as a fan for this team.