Instant Reaction: Flames overcome Kraken with third period push

But a couple minutes later, the Flames responded back. Rasmus Andersson did the simple thing and threw the puck towards the net-front area, with the puck bonking off Mikael Backlund’s skates and into the Kraken net past Joey Daccord. That tied the game at 1-1.

Later in the second period, Seattle retook the lead. With Jonathan Huberdeau in the box for goaltender interference, Seattle’s second unit broke through, with a Ryker Evans puck towards the net-front redirected by Kaapo Kakko past Wolf to give the Kraken a 2-1 advantage.

Second period shots were 13-12 Kraken. 5v5 scoring chances were 10-9 Flames and high-danger scoring chances were 5-3 Flames.

The Flames had a pair of power plays around the midway point of the third period, and they cashed in on their second advantage. Andersson teed up a one-timer feed for Nazem Kadri, and he blasted the puck stick-side past Daccord to tie the game at 2-2.

1:15 later, the Flames grabbed the lead. Andersson sent Matt Coronato in on the rush with a nice pass and Coronato beat Daccord glove-side to give the Flames a 3-2 lead.

The Kraken pulled Daccord for the extra attacker with 2:21 left in regulation.

Joel Farabee blocked a shot with his hand late and Backlund went the other way to score an empty-netter to give the Flames a 4-2 victory.

Third period shots were 14-4 Flames.

Why the Flames won

On Tuesday night in San Jose, the Flames had oodles of power play time but didn’t seem to do a whole lot with it. Especially at key times. On Thursday evening, the Flames had 11 shots on their power play and with the game up for grabs, the power play was a difference-maker for them.

If you want to quibble: yeah, the Flames put a ton of rubber on Joey Daccord at even strength, but they arguably lacked ample high-danger chances: Daccord saw a lot of their initial shots, and hardly had to deal with many deflections or screens. But hey, it was enough for them to get two points.

Red Warrior

Rasmus Andersson had three primary assists in this game, and they were all very nice assists.

Turning point

With the chance to grab momentum with a mid-period power play, the Flames finally hit paydirt and tied the game. 75 seconds later they grabbed the lead and held on for the victory.

This and that

The Flames had new power play units for this game:

• Unit 1 featured Andersson, Huberdeau, Kadri, Sharangovich and Klapka
• Unit 2 featured Weegar, Frost, Zary, Coleman and Coronato

The Flames set a season high for shots on goal with 46.

Michela Sheedy was joined by the Renfrew Kids Choir for the Canadian anthem and it was pretty cool. We need to have more choirs performing before hockey games.

Tate McRae was at the game! (For the jersey fans, she was wearing a Matthew Tkachuk reverse retro, by the looks of it.)

After Burner

Join Cami Kepke and Robert Munnich right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (14-17-4) are back in action on Saturday night when they host the Vegas Golden Knights in the late game on Hockey Night in Canada.