Instant Reaction: Flames tame Sabres in goal-filled tilt

A slew of penalties back and forth resulted in the Flames getting 32 seconds of a two-man advantage. They scored with a single second remaining on that five-on-three, with a Rasmus Andersson slapper almost-but-not-quite blocked by Conor Timmins, fluttering past Luukkonen to give the Flames a 2-0 lead.

First period shots were 12-7 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 11-6 Flames and high-danger scoring chances were 8-4 Flames.

The Sabres pulled within one early in the second period on a power play. With Morgan Frost in the box, Jason Zucker found Tage Thompson alone near the slot. Thompson had time to get a good shot off, and man, he wired a shot past Dustin Wolf to cut the Flames’ advantage to 2-1.

But the Flames got another power play goal a little later, with Matt Coronato finding Jonathan Huberdeau at the far post with a great pass that Huberdeau got just enough of with his stick to wobble into the net to give the Flames a 3-1 lead.

The Sabres briefly made it a 3-2 hockey game off the rush, with Thompson firing a heck of a shot from a sharp angle that eluded Wolf. But the Flames challenged for an offside zone entry and the goal was waved off.

But the Sabres eventually made this a 3-2 game anyway. Matt Coronato broke his stick, resulting in the Flames getting hemmed into their zone for awhile and the Sabres doing a nice job cycling the puck. Eventually, Owen Power took advantage of oodles of traffic in front of Wolf and fired a puck through the crowd to cut the Flames’ lead to 3-2.

But 21 seconds later, the Flames restored their two goal lead. This time, the Nazem Kadri line executed a fantastic passing sequence off the rush, ending with Joel Farabee throwing the puck to the net-front for a slick drive-by redirect by Kadri to give the Flames a 4-2 lead.

But the Sabres responded soon afterwards with a really nice redirect goal of their own. This time, Josh Doan made a really patient, precise pass to the far post for a pinching Rasmus Dahlin, who got a stick on it to launch it past Wolf to cut the Flames’ lead to 4-3.

But later still, the Flames restored their two goal lead… again! This time, we saw some four-on-four hockey after another slew of back-and-forth minors to both clubs. Blake Coleman attempted to drive the net, got his chance disrupted, then he chased down the puck behind the net and drove the net. Luukkonen made the initial stop, but a pinching Yan Kuznetsov jammed in the loose rebound to give the Flames a 5-3 lead.

Second period shots were 15-10 Sabres. 5v5 scoring chances were 11-4 Sabres and high-danger scoring chances were 6-3 Sabres.

Alex Lyon entered the game in relief of Luukkonen for the Sabres to begin the third period.

The Sabres pressed for much of the third period, looking to claw their way back into this one. But the Flames did a pretty admirable job letting the Sabres run around on the outside of the offensive zone.

The Sabres pulled Lyon for the extra attacker with 3:48 remaining in regulation. During a goal-mouth scrum following a scramble over a loose puck, Wolf was given the extra minor going after Peyton Krebs. On the resulting six-on-four advantage for the Sabres, Alex Tuch redirected a shot from Dahlin past Wolf to make it 5-4 Flames.

The Sabres kept pressing and kept Lyon out for the extra attacker, but Mikael Backlund and Sharangovich each scored on the empty net to give the Flames a 7-4 victory.

Why the Flames won

Were the Flames great in this game? Nope. They were a bit leaky defensively, especially in their own zone. The normally stingy club gave the Sabres a lot of wiggle room to manuever, and the Sabres made a lot of really nice plays. But give the Flames credit: whenever the Sabres seemed to start clawing back into this game, the Flames did what they could to shove them down again.

It wasn’t pretty and it probably isn’t something they can replicate too often, but it was enough to get them two points.

Red Warrior

We’ll give it to Nazem Kadri. He had three points and his line was consistently a noticeable presence on the ice.

Turning point

We’ll cheat and give you two. Twice in the second period, the Sabres pulled to within a goal of the Flames. Twice in the second period, the Flames scored shortly after the Sabres did to restore their multi-goal lead.

(It happened again in the third period.)

This and that

Brayden Pachal returned to the lineup after a brief spell in the press box, replacing an injured Jake Bean. Hunter Brzustewicz, recalled on Monday morning, was a healthy scratch along with Dryden Hunt.

The Flames are now 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.

After Burner

Join Mike Gould and Robert Munnich right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (12-15-4) finish off their homestand on Wednesday evening when they host the Detroit Red Wings. (Beware: it’s a 6:30 p.m. MT start time!)