Instant Reaction: Flames grind out a win over Mammoth

After that, well, it was a pretty dull opening frame. The Flames were pretty solid with their pace and possession in the first 5-7 minutes of the period, but then Utah found their rhythm and started to take things over.

Dustin Wolf had to make a lot of good saves on Utah chances, several of which came off of odd turnovers by the Flames.

First period shots were 10-8 Mammoth. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 11-7 Mammoth and high-danger scoring chances were 8-3 Mammoth.

Utah carried the pace of play for much of the second period.

However, the Flames may’ve gotten the best chance of the period when Rasmus Andersson made a nice deflection in the slot off a pass from Jonathan Huberdeau. It hit the crossbar and stayed out.

Late in the period, Wolf made a superb stop on Liam O’Brien.

Second period shots were 9-6 Mammoth. 5v5 scoring chances were 10-7 Flames and high-danger scoring chances were 5-3 Flames.

The Mammoth pushed for an equalizer throughout the period, but the Flames defended pretty well and Wolf remained sharp.

With Utah’s netminder on the bench for an extra attacker, Connor Zary added an empty-netter (after a big shot block by Rasmus Andersson) to give the Flames a 2-0 lead. They held on for the victory.

Third period shots were 9-8 Flames.

Why the Flames won

The Flames weren’t all that good in this game. They weren’t all that bad either. They were fine, but that’s a step back from how strong they looked in all three zones against Minnesota. They were playing their system perfectly adequately, but they seemed to struggle with the pace of Utah’s forecheck and their puck management – especially in their own zone – was pretty sub-standard given how good they’ve been at times.

Their goaltender covered up a lot of flaws in their game.

Red Warrior

Dustin Wolf. He was superb in all three periods and was a consistent difference-maker when his club needed one.

Turning point

The Flames scored early, so we guess technically the game was decided 16 seconds in. But we could point to any number of Dustin Wolf saves after they got that first goal.

This and that

Ryan Lomberg fought Liam O’Brien in the second period.

This was the first-ever win for the Flames over the Utah Mammoth franchise, dating back to last season when they were the Utah Hockey Club.

After Burner

Join Mike Gould and Kent Wilson right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (11-15-4) are back in action on Monday night when they host the Buffalo Sabres.