Mikael Backlund Atones For Late Penalty, Wins It For Calgary In Shootout 2-1 Over Penguins

Calgary Flames 2 – Pittsburgh Penguins 1 (SO)

Complete Stats

Scoring

1st Period: None

2nd Period: CGY 9:44- Lucic (Kylington/Tanev)

3rd Period: PIT 12:35- PPG Guentzel (Crosby/Letang)

OT: None

SO: CGY Gaudreau (5), PIT Letang (6), CGY Backlund (13)

For a game that ended 2-1, that was an incredibly entertaining game and you can thank Mikael Backlund for bringing it home….after helping get Pittsburgh on the board. Backlund would win it for the Flames in the 7th round of the shootout, but he also had the chance to end up being the goat instead of the hero.

Midway through the third the Flames were holding on to a 1-0 lead and doing just fine at that. Mikael Backlund would get sent to the box for interference, a penalty that wasn’t needed, and that put the dangerous Penguins power play on the ice. You can guess what happened. Jake Guentzel would get the marker that evened the contest after it pinballed off bodies out front and after all that hard work, Calgary was starting from scratch.

The Flames were able to hold off Pittsburgh and got the game to overtime, which hasn’t exactly been their best 5 minutes of any game this season. Despite their allergy to winning in OT the Flames had some great chances, including a 3 on 1 and a Johnny Gaudreau cross bar, but neither team could end it in the extra frame and we were off to a shootout.

Calgary’s first two efforts from Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk were disappointing to say the least. But as he’s prone to do, Johnny Gaudreau would save the day and beat Tristan Jarry with an absolute laser getting the first goal in the shootout round. Kris Letang would even it immediately after and it would take another six shooters before Mikael Backlund would find the back of the net and get the Flames a well deserved two points with a 2-1 victory.

Highlights

Milan Lucic gets his 6th of the season to open the scoring

Mikael Backlund wins it in the shootout

Final Thoughts

-If you came for goaltending, you got you money’s worth. Jacob Markstrom had a light workload, facing 22 total shots, but Tristan Jarry put on a show at the other end of the ice. Early on it felt like one of those game where the Flames were going to run into a hot goalie that would steal one for the opposition. Jarry faced 32 shots and stopped 31 of them, some in spectacular fashion and that performance earned him the first star of the night. Clearly a well deserved reward for his spectacular play.

-Calgary’s defence was on point tonight. The Flames blue liners didn’t allow Pittsburgh to have a period with double digit shots on goal. And it’s not like they blocked a ton of shots (6), they just played solid, lock down defence with a lead for most of this contest. The fact that Mikael Backlund and his line shut Sidney Crosby down at times tonight, just shows how good that line is when facing the NHL’s best lines. Add Oilver Kylington and Chris Tanev getting the helpers on Milan Lucic’s goal and it was a very solid night all around for the Flames defence.

-The Flames are once again back on top of the Pacific Division and Western Conference thanks to their 2-1 victory last night. Not a bad way to end the month.

Flame Of The Game

Johnny Gaudreau: He didn’t have a goal, but he had 4 SOG, hit a post, hit a crossbar and had a key defensive backcheck to stop a Pittsburgh scoring chance. He also had 19:01 TOI, which was third among Flames forwards.

What’s Next?

12/2: Calgary Flames @ LA Kings, 8:30 PM MT

by Mark Parkinson