Recap: Flames Come Up Short In 2-1 Loss To Jets, Foo Nets First

Calgary Flames 1 Winnipeg Jets 2

Well, at least they didn’t get blown out. The Flames rolled into Winnipeg to take on a Jets team that still had something to play for and semi held their own, yet Calgary walked away with their 8th loss in their last 9 games. Positive takes? Spencer Foo scored his first NHL goal and Jon Gillies held his own in a battle of former Hockey East foes with one of the NHL’s best in Connor Hellebuyck.

1st Period: Calgary 0 Winnipeg 1

Calgary once again came out hot and out shot an opponent in a period, yet came out of the first 20 minutes behind on the score sheet. The Jets would test a shaky Jon Gillies early and would score on one of their 8 first period shots. Dustin Byfuglien would blast a shot from the blue line that Blake Wheeler would tip in from the face off dot and just like that the Jets had a 1-0 lead.

Each team would get a power play opportunity in the period, but as would be expected, the Flames did nothing with the man advantage.

2nd Period: Calgary 1 Winnipeg 2

The Jets would once again open the scoring with a goal from Flames killer Paul Stastny. Stastny’s 16th marker of the season came on one of Winnipeg’s 9 second period shots and would end up being the game winner.

The Flames would close within one when Spencer Foo would net his first NHL goal at the 15:14 mark of the period. Michael Stone would fire one towards the Winnipeg net and Foo would be in the right place at the right time, collecting goal #1……..off his foot. The deflection would make the score 2-1, but that would be all the Flames would get in this contest.

3rd Period: Calgary 1 Winnipeg 2

The third period belonged to the goalies, with each making some key stops to either keep their team in the lead or within striking distance. Jon Gillies really settled in after some bad puck luck early on and stopped all 9 shots he faced and Connor Hellebuyck did his best keeping all 8 of the Flames shots out of the net.

The Flames had a few decent scoring chances and picked up another PP opportunity, but they couldn’t solve Hellebuyck and they would drop their second in a row, 2-1 to the Jets.

Final Thoughts

The Flames showed some semblance of life, but in the end they looked like a team playing out the string. This game had all the makings of a major mismatch, but the Flames didn’t let Winnipeg run away with it….score wise. The loss dropped the Flames record to 36-35-10 with one game left in the season.

Flame Of The Game

Spencer Foo (F). The young Flames forward has been knocking on the door, but hadn’t had any luck getting his first NHL goal. He had been putting puck after puck on net, but like the team itself he was snake bitten. Tonight he happened to get his foot in the right place and was able to get his first NHL goal.

by Mark Parkinson