The Morning After Buffalo: Rare Home Loss For The Flames

The Morning After

Calgary Flames 0 – Buffalo Sabres 1 (OT)

NHL Standings

The Flames dropped a tough one to a gritty Buffalo squad last night, 1-0 in OT. This game was a goaltender battle from start to finish with Jacob Markstrom and Dustin Tokarski making highlight reel after highlight reel save. The two combined for 57 saves, but it was the one that wasn’t “saved” that was the big difference.

With 2 minutes left in overtime, Buffalo dumped the puck into the Flames zone. Jacob Markstrom came out to play the puck to help clear and start a break, but he whiffed on the puck leaving it sitting there for Tage Thompson to scoop up and fire into the empty net, sending Calgary to defeat.

Despite the loss, there were some good takeaways from this game. Markstrom, gaffe aside, was outstanding as usual. He turned away 33 of the 34 shots he faced and deserved the win. Calle Jarnkrok made his Flames debut and had 1 SOG and 3 hits, but it was his shot that he robbed of that will stand out the most. The Flames newest acquisition had a grade a chance on a beautiful feed from Andrew Mangiapane, but Dustin Tokarski robbed Jarnkrok of his first Flames goal.

Tidbits

-Low Shots: Calgary has been an offensive machine this season, but last night was a rarity. The Flames only put 24 SOG against Buffalo, which was a season low for the good guys.

-First Of The Season: Dustin Tokarski stopped all 24 of that season low shot total for the Flames and collected his first shutout of the season, which is the second of his career.

-Odd Sight: The Flames gained a point in the loss, but seeing the Flames on the other side of the ledger is something of a rarity lately. Coming into last night’s game the Flames were 15-1-1 in their last 17.

Highlights

Post Game Reaction

by Mark Parkinson