Recap: Flames Slightly Too Hot for Devils in Shootout Win

The Flames and Devils battled on Sunday night in a wild game that ended with a shootout victory for Calgary. The Michaels led the Flames to victory, all getting on the scoresheet.

1st Period: Calgary Flames 1, New Jersey Devils 1

New Jersey would open the scoring early with the Devils capitalizing on a misplay by Mark Giordano. Nico Hischier would steal the puck and come in 2-on-1 with Taylor Hall. Hischier’s original shot was stopped but Hall buried the rebound to make it 1-0.

The Flames would get a powerplay chance to try to tie the game up but would be unable to get any great chances. As in the last game, the Flames would be slow out of the gates in the first period. Brett Kulak would get sent to the penalty box for a holding call midway through the period.

It would be the Flames that would benefit however as the Michael Frolik would score a shorthanded goal. The play started with Mikael Backlund winning a race down the ice against Will Butcher before knocking the puck in front to Frolik who would score. Definitely not deserved but the game was tied at 1-1.

Shortly after, Calgary would be given a glorious chance to take the lead with Micheal Ferland being awarded a penalty shot but he was unable to convert. Calgary would get another powerplay but it would end early when Sam Bennett took a bad penalty in the offensive zone. Bennett would get a breakaway out of the box but be unable to score.

2nd Period: Calgary Flams 3, New Jersey Devils 3

New Jersey would break the tie early in the period with Ben Lovejoy sneaking behind coverage and burying a rebound off Smith. 2-1 Devils. Calgary would get some really good chances to get the game tied right back up, including a powerplay but Kinkaid shut the door.

Then out of all people Michael Stone would beat Kinkaid with a slapper from the blue line for his first goal of the year. Assists to Kris Versteeg and Michael Frolik and major credit to Matt Stajan for a great screen.

Calgary would take their first lead right after with the Flames stopping a Devils clearing attempt. Sean Monahan would be fed the puck in front of Kinkaid and easily bury it for his eighth of the year. Assists to Ferland and Johnny Gaudreau.

Immediately after the Devils would tie the game with Brian Gibbons scoring from along the boards. Smith was out playing the puck and couldn’t get it past Gibbons who made him pay. Definitely was a goal Smith would like to have back, but it happens, especially with a goalie like him that plays the puck a lot. A total of three goals in 1:26 makes it 3-3.

That’s how the period would end with both teams exchanging chances the rest of the way.

3rd Period: Calgary Flames 4, New Jersey Devils 4

Nico Hischier would get an early scoring chance with a rebound coming to him alone in front, but a terrific save by Smith would deny the Devils chance.

Micheal Ferland would make it 4-3 Flames with by finishing a beautiful passing play with his linemates. Monahan would hit Gaudreau after entering the zone, who would get it up to Ferland and Ferland would make a great shot for his fourth of the year.

New Jersey would get the game tied with a shot from sideboards somehow sneaking past Smith. It was another tough goal for Smith to allow but he’s due a few bad goals after his performances earlier in the year. 4-4 game.

With 6:06 to go Miles Wood would get a penalty shot after being hauled down by Bartkowski (of course), but he’d miss the net. No scoring the rest of the way would mean we’re headed to overtime for the second straight game.

Overtime: Calgary Flames 4, New Jersey Devils 4

As per usual we’d get some overtime craziness with both teams getting golden opportunities including breakaways for Michael Frolik and Johnny Gaudreau, but no luck and the shootout is on the way.

Shootout: Calgary Flames 5, New Jersey Devils 4

Monahan and Tkachuk with snipes on their attempts, Smith saves 2 of 3 and the Flames win!

Final Thoughts

Well we wanted more goals right!? Tonight we got them from a host of Michaels as the Flames put up five against the Devils and extended their win streak to three games.

As a whole the team played pretty well tonight, the top three forward lines were rolling, the defensive pairs did their job. There was the usual cast of players that struggled too, but as a whole the team had a good game. It really feels like if the Bennett-Jankowski-Lazar(Jagr) line can just get one goal, then the floodgates could really open as they had a lot of chances tonight.

Mike Smith had a rough night allowing some goals he’d probably like back, but as I said earlier, he’s had quite a few outstanding games so a bad game was bound to happen. Of course let’s not forget he also made some outstanding saves tonight, especially when the Devils pushed early.

Flame of the Game

Johnny Gaudreau (LW): He might not be getting the credit he fully deserves so far this year, but yet again he was flying for the Flames tonight and creating chances for his line. Had two assists and easily could’ve had more. He now has 18 points on the season which is tied for 4th (!) in league scoring. Pretty good for a guy on one of the lowest scoring teams in the league. Honourable mention tonight to Michael Stone for stepping up with Hamonic’s absence.

Next Up: Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames on Tuesday at 7:00pm MT

by Michael MacGillivray