Flames Spread Out The Scoring, Defeat Anaheim 4-2

Calgary Flames 4 – Anaheim Ducks 2

Complete Stats

Scoring

1st: CGY 12:33- Lindholm (Gaudreau/Stone)

2nd: CGY 10:11- Toffoli (Mangiapane/Backlund), ANA 18:11- Zegras (Lettieri)

3rd: CGY 10:28- Stone (Mangiapane), ANA 11:53- PPG Henrique (Fowler/Shattenkirk), CGY 19:25- Empty Net Tkachuk (Gaudreau)

The Flames had a chance to do something they have never done and they did it during a 4-2 defeat of the Anaheim Ducks tonight. Anaheim has never been a welcoming rink for the Flames, but those demons are gone as Calgary won their 4th straight game in Anaheim for the first time as a franchise.

This game didn’t have a ton of flow, but the Flames were able to grind out a win to extend their winning streak to two games. Jacob Markstrom had a decent night between the pipes, stopping 24 of 28, but he had some key stops in both the second and third periods where Anaheim looked to push back a bit. He’d surely like both goals back as they weren’t high danger ones for sure, but he was solid enough tonight for the Flames and he allowed them to cushion their lead and win for the 42nd time on the season.

Highlights

Final Thoughts

-The Flames top line once again paid major dividends for Calgary tonight. Elias Lindholm put the Flames on the board first and Matthew Tkachuk closed the scoring on the evening with an empty netter in the waning moments of the third period . Johnny Gaudreau had the helpers on both goals, making the Flames top line good for 4 points on the night.

-While the top line produced 2 markers, the Flames got secondary scoring tonight, which was needed. Tyler Toffoli potted a goal, as did Michael Stone (also had an assist) and the Flames got assists from Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane. This a trend moving in the right direction as Calgary will need more than just the top line to find the back of the net in the post season.

-The Flames best line of the night might have been the trio of Milan Lucic, Trevor Lewis and Ryan Carpenter. They finished with 5 SOG, 4 hits and Ryan Carpenter was 67% at the face off dot. They were effective as forecheckers, didn’t take a penalty and had, for the most part, very clean zone entries. All three played 12+ minutes on the evening and despite not registering a point were very noticeable and effective.

-Speaking of effective, but in the negative side, Nikita Zadorov had another rough outing. The Flames defenceman had a puck go through his legs that beat Jacob Markstrom, he turned a puck over that led to a breakaway chance and took another bad penalty.

Flame Of The Game

Michael Stone (D): 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 hits and 1 blocked shot

What’s Next?

4/7: Calgary Flames @ San Jose Sharks, 8:30 PM MT

by Mark Parkinson