The Calgary Flames played the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday evening, in the aftermath of the Noah Hanifin trade and on the eve of the trade deadline. And the Flames were very, very good. The visiting team played a smart, structured, poised road game and managed to keep the Lightning from getting much going.
The Flames kicked off their three game eastern road swing with a 6-3 victory over the Lightning.
The rundown
The Flames got on the scoresheet first off a nice bit of battling below the red line in the Lightning zone by Yegor Sharangovich. He won a battle, stole the puck, and fed Dryden Hunt in front of the Tampa net. Hunt fired the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
But a few minutes later, the Lightning drew even. The Flames couldn’t clear their zone and Conor Sheary deflected a shot from Nick Paul past Jacob Markstrom to tie the game at 1-1.
First period shots were 7-6 Flames (7-4 Flames at five-on-five) and, via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 6-6 (high-dangers were 5-3 Flames).
The Flames grabbed hold of the game in the second period, with three goals over a span of 3:14.
First, the Flames made a few nice plays to clear the zone and get the puck up ice into the Tampa zone. Once there, Jonathan Huberdeau found Sharangovich all alone at the far side of the Tampa net with a gorgeous lateral pass across the crease. Sharangovich fired the feed past Vasilevskiy to make it 2-1 Flames.
A little later, Matt Coronato started a nice dump-and-chase sequence off the rush. Huberdeau’s forecheck led to the Lightning turning over the puck in the corner, and Coronato fed Sharangovich at the top of the circles and he blasted the puck past Vasilevskiy to make it 3-1 Flames.
Finally, the Flames won an offensive zone draw and drove the net after cycling the puck a bit. Andrei Kuzmenko drove the net and Jakob Pelletier buried the rebound to give the Flames a 4-1 lead. Tampa challenged for goalie interference, but the goal stood.
The Lightning got one back at the very end of a power play, though. Steven Stamkos threw the puck into the crease area, where Anthony Cirelli jammed in the loose puck to cut the Flames’ lead to 4-2.
Second period shots were 8-6 Flames (7-5 Flames at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 7-2 Flames (2-1 Flames at five-on-five).
The Flames added some insurance midway through the third period, as Blake Coleman redirected a Sharangovich shot past Vasilevskiy to make it 5-2 Flames.
Mangiapane added an empty-netter with 7:43 left – after a big shot block in the Flames’ zone from MacKenzie Weegar – to give the Flames a 6-2 lead.
The Lightning got a goal back before the end of regulation, though. A broken neutral zone play turned into a two on one sequence, which ended with Mikey Eyssimont converting on a Sheary pass to make it 6-3 Flames.
But that’s all the Lightning could muster, and the Flames held on for the victory.
Why the Flames won
There was a lot of things to like about the road team. They largely stayed out of penalty trouble, which kept the potent Lightning power play off the ice. They generally out-worked and out-battled the Lightning in all three zones. And the Flames got a lot of good individual efforts from up and down the lineup, which resulted in Tampa having a tough night at the office.
Red Warrior
Sharangovich had four even strength primary points. He, and his line with Coronato and Huberdeau, were excellent.
Turning point
The Flames took over the game with that three goals in 3:14 outburst in the second period.
This and that
With Noah Hanifin on another team and Connor Zary injured, the Flames made two notable changes on special teams: Coronato joined the second power play unit, while Joel Hanley joined the second penalty kill unit.
Dennis Gilbert played just four shifts and didn’t hit the ice after the 12:38 mark of the first period. As a result, the Flames essentially played this game with five blueliners.
Joel Hanley recorded an assist on Pelletier’s second period goal, which stood as Hanley’s first point in his first game with the Flames.
Up next
The Flames (31-26-5) are headed to scenic Sunrise, Florida, where they’ll face the Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon. But first: the 2024 NHL trade deadline on Friday.
More must-reads: