The Calgary Flames hosted the Boston Bruins on Thursday evening. The Flames did their best to push the pace early on and spotted themselves a lead, but the Bruins made a push in the second half and the Flames did their best to hold on. This game went beyond regulation, with Nazem Kadri scoring off the rush in overtime to capture the extra point.
The Flames beat the Bruins 3-2 in overtime.
The rundown
The first period of this hockey game was a lot of fun. Plays going end to end for each team. Lots of pace. Not many whistles, especially early on.
Midway through the frame, the Flames opened the scoring. Oliver Kylington used his body to negate a Boston scoring chance, putting a shoulder into Trent Frederic beside the Flames net. That caused possession to change and the Flames went on a rush the other way. Kylington joined the rush, received a pass from Andrei Kuzmenko, and fired a wrist shot that beat Linus Ullmark to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
The Bruins evened things up near the end of the period off a weird play (and a bad bit of decision-making by the netminder). A pass intended to set up Brad Marchand for a breakaway got a bit ahead of him. Jacob Markstrom rushed out of his net to intercept that puck. He did so… but then his clearing attempt was intercepted by Charlie Coyle, who fired the puck past a back-tracking Markstrom to tie the game at 1-1.
But on the very next shift, the Flames got their lead back. After an initial scoring chance was disrupted by, of all things, Connor Zary getting upended and getting entangled in the puck, the Nazem Kadri line retrieved the puck in the neutral zone and scored off a really nice rush sequence. Zary chucked the puck on net. Ullmark made the initial save, but Martin Pospisil poked the loose rebound into the net to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.
First period shots were 16-8 Flames (15-7 Flames at five-on-five) and, via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 13-5 Flames (high-dangers were 8-2 Flames).
Neither team scored in the second period, but it wasn’t from a lack of trying. Both teams had their looks, including some really good Bruins chances on a power play.
Second period shots were 11-5 Bruins (6-5 Bruins at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 5-3 Flames (high-dangers were 2-1 Flames).
Early in the third period, a nice counter-punch play by the Bruins led to the tying goal. The Flames got a scoring chance at one end, but couldn’t score. Anthony Richard corralled the loose rebound and chucked it into the neutral zone, with his bank-pass off the side boards springing Coyle on a breakaway. Coyle fended off an approaching Rasmus Andersson and tucked a backhand shot behind Markstrom to tie the game up at 2-2.
The Bruins made a push throughout much of the rest of the period, but the Flames held on and made a push of their own late in regulation. But 60 minutes solved nothing.
Third period shots were 9-7 Bruins (9-5 Bruins at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 8-8 (high-dangers were 4-3 Bruins).
Off to extra time this game went. Momentum went back and forth, often swinging wildly during a short sequence. Markstrom made a series of big saves, most notably one off David Pastrnak that turned into a three-on-one rush the other way, where Kadri beat Ullmark with a wrister from the left wing to give the Flames a 3-2 victory.
Why the Flames won
Man, the Flames were superb early in this game and it was just bounces (and Markstrom’s misplay on the first goal) that kept this game close. But the Bruins got their legs under them midway through this game, and the result was a pretty entertaining, even game featuring some momentum swings back and forth.
The Flames got a few more big saves than their opponents, especially late, and that was ultimately the difference-maker.
Red Warrior
We’re playing the hits on this one: it’s going to Markstrom, who was really good in the back half of this game and flat-out excellent in overtime. He made superb stops on Charlie McAvoy and Jesper Boqvist in overtime, in particular, that stand out as huge saves.
Turning point
Kadri’s overtime goal is an obvious, but correct, choice.
This and that
Andrei Kuzmenko recorded just 1:56 of ice time in the third period, with fourth-liner Dryden Hunt getting double-shifted.
Up next
The Flames (27-25-5) are headed up the road for a Saturday night meeting with the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.
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