Instant Reaction: Flames overpower Canucks in Saturday night clash

1:55 later, the Flames doubled their advantage. The puck got cycled to the point, where Zach Whitecloud fired it on net. Joel Farabee got a stick on it while battling out front and deflected it past Tolopilo and into the Canucks’ net. The Flames led 2-0.

Spectators were treated to some history after the second Flames goal, as Vancouver’s Curtis Douglas (6’9″) and Calgary’s Adam Klapka (6’8″) clashed in what Sportsnet Stats noted as tied for the tallest fight in NHL history.

The Canucks got a puck past Dustin Wolf on a goal mouth scrum midway through the period, but it was wiped out after a coach’s challenge: Victor Mancini shoved Parekh into Wolf, and that’s what led to the goal. The game remained 2-0 Flames.

The Canucks finally got on the board late in the period. Kevin Bahl was caught up at the blueline, leaving Whitecloud back to defend a two-on-one sequence involving Linus Karlsson and Liam Ohgren. Karlsson made a nice pass to Ohgren for a tap-in to cut Calgary’s lead to 2-1.

First period shots were 10-7 Canucks.

The Flames pulled away in the second period.

First, Ryan Strome tipped an Olli Maatta point shot past Tolopilo to make it 3-1 Flames.

A little bit later, Maatta got in on the goal parade. Strome blasted a puck on Tolopilo, and Maatta, pinching down, got the rebound and chipped it past Tolopilo to make it 4-1 Flames.

Kevin Lankinen came into the game in relief of Tolopilo, who allowed 4 goals on 11 shots… and immediately got scored on. Morgan Frost was sprung towards the net by Coronato. Frost’s back-hander beat Lankinen short-side to make it 5-1.

Kevin Bahl was called for tripping. On the ensuing Canucks man advantage, Zach Whitecloud broke his stick (and Joel Farabee handed him his, so Whitecloud was defending with an off-hand stick) and Boeser fired a shot on net that was deflected past Wolf by Jake DeBrusk to make it 5-2 Flames.

But late in the period, the Flames got a power play goal of their own. They took awhile to gain the zone after a late penalty by the Canucks, but Zayne Parekh beat Lankinen over his shoulder to go up 6-2.

Second period shots were 14-9 Canucks.

12:40 into the third period, Nils Hoglander beat Wolf to cut the Flames’ lead to 6-3.

But that’s as close as the visitors got.

Klapka finished off a passing sequence, beating Lankinen with 7.6 seconds left in regulation, to make it a 7-3 Flames win. (Brennan Othmann got the primary assist for his first point as a Flame.)

Third period shots were 10-7 Canucks.

Why the Flames won

Let’s call a spade a spade here: this was not a defensive showcase for either team. Both groups got a bunch of good looks. But the Flames were much better at burying their chances than the visitors were.

The Flames were pretty leaky defensively and gave the Canucks a lot. But the Canucks’ breakdowns were pretty glaring and their goaltender(s) hardly bailed them out.

Red Warrior

A lot of gentlemen in red had good games. We’ll go with Ryan Strome, who had two points to match his Anaheim production with nine points with the Flames. He took 33 games to get that many points with the Ducks, it took him a dozen games with the Flames.

Turning point

The Flames scored three times in the first 4:47 of the second period. That was enough to cement their victory.

This and that

Dustin Wolf started in net. Brennan Othmann made his Flames debut. Tyson Gross played his second NHL game.

The Flames now have four successful coach’s challenges on seven attempts this season. They’ve had seven of their goals wiped out by opposition coach’s challenges.

After Burner

Join Jordan and Mike from the In The Dome podcast right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (31-34-8) are headed back on the road. They visit the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night, on Prime Monday Night Hockey, to kick off a six game road trip.