Monahan, Lindholm lead Flames to Victory in Anaheim

Calgary Flames 4 – Anaheim Ducks 3 (SO)

1st Period:

No Scoring

2nd Period:

ANA [1] – Milano (6) (Manson, Zegras) 0:54

CGY [1] – Coleman (4) (Monahan, Lewis) 3:49

CGY [2] – Lindholm (10) (Gaudreau) 10:20

CGY [3] – Monahan (3) (Lewis, Kylington) 15:10

ANA [2] – Rakell (8) (Lundestrom, Lindholm) 19:24

3rd Period:

ANA [3] – Lettieri (2) (Drysdale, Zegras) 2:04 PP

Overtime:

No Scoring

Shootout

CGY – Gaudreau (Goal), Tkachuk (Goal)

ANA – Zegras (No Goal), Shattenkirk (No Goal)

Recap

The Calgary Flames made the short trip from Los Angeles to Anaheim tonight and took down the Ducks by a score of 4-3 in the shootout. The Flames entered the contest coming off a 3-2 win against the Kings on Saturday while the Ducks were coming off a 6-5 over Vegas on Wednesday. Dan Vladar got his sixth start of the season while the Ducks countered with the ever-solid John Gibson.

The first period of the game was fairly quiet with both teams having a few early chances, but both goaltenders and the goal posts were the story of the opening 20 minutes.

Things got going in the second period when Sonny Milano tallied early, finding a loose puck from a Trevor Zegras shot and burying it past Vladar. The goal was the second straight game where the Flames had allowed the first goal, but just the sixth time all year that it happened.

The Flames answered back when the new third line teamed up with Sean Monahan batting a puck across the crease (his intention is questionable) to Blake Coleman who had the whle net to shoot at, scoring his first goal in 18 games to tie it.

Later in the period, Elias Lindholm made it 2-1 off a nice feed from Johnny Gaudreau who found him on his off-wing to allow Lindholm to rocket a one-timer past Gibson into the top corner. The goal was Lindholm’s 10th of the year.

Sean Monahan buried a goal five minutes later to extend the lead to 3-1 as Trevor Lewis picked up his second assist of the night. Rickard Rakell got a late goal to bring the score to 3-2 after a five goal second period.

Vinnie Lettieri (remember him?) tied the game early in the third on the powerplay and from there both teams had chances, but were unsuccessful as overtime approached. With the first 60 minutes solving nothing, both teams went to extra time for the second time in as many meetings this year.

Overtime was extremely slow paced as neither team had any great chances, leaving us with the shootout as the only option to complete the game. Trevor Zegras was stymied by Vladar’s glove on his attempt while Johnny Gaudreau picked the top corner to put Calgary ahead 1-0. Kevin Shattenkirk was also denied which allowed Matthew Tkachuk to win it with a beauty of a goal, dekeing left and then sliding the puck back right, past the outstretched glove of Gibson for the win.

With the win, the Flames are 2/2 on their road trip and have won seven of eight overall.

Final Thoughts

Flame of the Game

Sean Monahan (F): While he has struggled for long stretches this year, this was definitely one of his best games (if not his best) as he picked up two points and did some good work with his linemates. Honourable mention also to Blake Coleman who got on the scoresheet but was also quite strong in all facets of his game tonight. Perhaps there is some chemistry there between the two, and all hail Sutter for trying it.

by Michael MacGillivray