Flames Sweep Home and Home With Wild

Calgary Flames 5 @ Minnesota Wild 1

Official Stats

Scoring

First Period

CGY [1] Tkachuk (27) (Lindholm (29), Toffoli (19)) 1:12 PPG

CGY [2] Mangiapane (28) (Backlund (17), Coleman (14)) 12:42

Second Period

MIN [1] Foligno (18) (Kaprizov (40), Eriksson-Ek (13)) 8:32

CGY [3] Lindholm (24) (Tkachuk (34), Gaudreau (46)) 8:53

Third Period

CGY [4] Toffoli (14) (Gaudreau (47), Andersson (28)) 0:33 PPG

CGY [5] Backlund (8) (Mangiapane (10), Hanifin (21)) ENG

-Dominance: If you cut out the few minutes after Oliver Kylington’s injury late in Game 1, and an ugly end to period 2 tonight, the Flames wholly dominated a strong Western Conference opponent. The Flames add 5 more goals to their running tally of 7, while keeping the Wild fans to a sole celebration tonight. Calgary went 2 for 3 on the powerplay to finish the series 4/8, all of which Tyler Toffoli had a hand in as he was promoted to the first unit.

-Clocking in: Andrew Mangiapane laced his road work boots up and ever so casually potted his 28th goal of the season, and finally hit double digits in assists. Mangiapane was the lone Flame to score in the Vancouver blowout, and extends his road point streak to 6 games tonight. He has 9 goals in his last 12 games overall after a brief slump in December and January.

-21: After the Wild scored for the first time and finally gave a restless arena something to cheer for, the Flames silenced them 21 seconds later. The best line in the NHL went out and cycled the puck like only they know how, and Elias Lindholm put a perfect shot off the post and past a stunned Cam Talbot. The Flames have responded to opponent’s goals in swift fashion more than once this season, and is a big identifier of how resilient this team’s identity can be.

-POWER…: All in all the officiating was objectively bad in all ways tonight, as sole players were punished out of net front scrums, and bizarre simultaneous interference plays. Regardless of all that, the Flames powerplay was excellent again with Toffoli in the mix. An absolute dagger was supplied by Matthew Tkachuk just 1:12 into the game, as he slapped a one-timer past Talbot and take an early lead over a supposed reformed Wild team. The boo-birds were out in small flocks tonight for a Minnesota team that has lost 4 straight games, and 6 of their last 7.

-..play: If Tyler Toffoli can make the Flames powerplay this much better, then anything he can continue to produce at 5-on-5 will just be a bonus. After assisting on Tkachuk’s opening marker, Toffoli thrust a dagger of his own into the Wild as he tipped home a gorgeous feed from Johnny Gaudreau just :33 seconds into the third period on a stale powerplay. He had 5 points in this 2 game series, and moves to a point-per-game with 7 points in 7 games as a Flame.

-Don’t discount them: It may just seem like stat-padding, but burying these empty net goals essentially seals games off from any sort of wild comeback (which the Flames have most certainly fallen victim to in recent times) and it’s nice to see Calgary finish these off like they should. Mikael Backlund provided tonight’s feature off an extremely slick feed by Mangiapane. Let’s be real though, Markstrom should have tried it.

by Gordie Taylor