Another day, another ‘must win, 4-pointer’ between the two teams currently holding down the two wildcard spots. It was fast paced, physical, and intense – a real playoff atmosphere. The Jets got the early jump, but the Flames weren’t going to wait around and try and win it in the third period – they played hard for 60 minutes and got a well deserved, hard fought win to move themselves past Vancouver and into third in the Pacific.
The Jets are a big physical team and they tried to intimidate the smaller Flames. But as they have shown several times this year, the Flames weren’t going to back down at all. In fact, it seems like the more physical the opponent tries to be, the better the Flames are. And tonight was no exception. Goals from up and down the lineup resulted in a huge 5-2 victory to give them their 7th win in their last 9 games.
The Flow
Just a minute in, Wheeler snapped a wrist shot past Hiller to give the Jets an early lead. My reaction: pffft, whatever – seen this before. Three minutes later, Giordano hit Jones streaking through the neutral zone. He tried to go wide on the defenseman and threw a backhand at Hutchinson and it somehow snuck through him and into the net, 1-1. The rest of the period was pretty even, with a few good chances at each end and a brisk pace. It was a really tough period for Gaudreau, who hurt his hand trying to knock down a puck, and then near the end of the period, he was lying on the ice and Little fell over him and looked to hit Gaudreau’s wrist with his skate. Gaudreau left immediately in considerable pain, but he did return to start the second. Shots were 8-6 Flames and the score was even at one.
The fast pace continued in the second, as did the physicality. It really had a playoff feel and intensity to it. Just a couple minutes in, Raymond streaked in to the top of the circle and snapped a shot past Hutchinson, to give the Flames their first lead. That was all the scoring in that frame. With just seconds remaining, Gaudreau flipped a two foot high saucer pass over the defenseman to Byron on a two on one, but he was unable to convert, ringing it off the post. At the buzzer, Byfluglien took a cheap shot on Raymond to ramp up the physicality even more. Once again the Flames outshot the Jets 8-6.
The third started 4 on 4, from the Byfluglien incident, and then the Flames got a PP. Though it struggled to get the zone for most of it, Diaz buried one from the point to give the Flames a two goal lead. Shortly after, Bollig got his first of the year on a beautiful pass from Colborne to make it 4-1. That was the end of Hutchinson’s night. A little over a minute later, Little got one back for the Jets to make it interesting. But they couldn’t get that third goal. And with about two and a half minutes left, Gaudreau got it out of the zone and over to Monahan who buried his 17th of the season into the empty net. 5-2 Flames. Shots were 12-7 in the third and 28-19 overall.
Three Stars
1.Brandon Bollig: Got his first goal of the year on a beautiful play that made it 4-1 and gave the Flames a stranglehold on the game.
2.David Jones: Got the Flames going with their first goal and was a physical presence all night.
3.Joe Colborne: Had 2 assists and was a constant threat
Big Save
Hard to pick any one save, but Hiller had his third consecutive solid game. With about 3 minutes left and the goalie pulled, Winnipeg threw everything at the net, but Hiller was up to the task again. Seconds later, Monahan potted it in the open cage at the other end and ended it.
The Goat
It was a well played and intense game, and hard to give anyone goat horns. But Hutchinson was pulled after giving up 4 goals, so we’ll give it to him. Jones’ goal was one he definitely should have had.
Mr. Clutch
David Jones drove into the zone and wide on the defenseman. He threw a backhander at the net that found its way through Hutchinson. Jones was a physical presence all night and that goal really set the tone.
Odds and Ends
Raymond had a solid game, as did Jones. Baertschi had lots of jump and was rewarded with 13 minutes of ice-time and an assist. Diaz also continued his solid play of late. Bollig played well and got his first of the season. Basically, it had a real playoff feel, and a lot of the bigger guys made their presence felt… Secondary scoring has been hard to find for the past while, but it has been picking up lately. And tonight it was the difference, with goals from Jones, Raymond, Diaz, Bollig and Monahan into the empty net. Assists came from Baertschi, Bouma, Byron, Russell, Gaudreau, Giordano, and Colborne with 2… The Flames now have 66 third period goals, which leads the league, and have only given up 33, which also leads the league. Being +33 in the third period is off the charts good, and the class of the league by a wide margin… At the start of the season, the primary concern for the Flames was goal scoring and even Treliving said he didn’t know where the goals were going to come from. But it’s now February and the Flames are 10th in the league in goals for. They are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for productivity. Yes, that’s right – they’re tied with the Crosby-Malkin show… They have scored more goals than any other team in the Pacific division. They are also 2nd in goals against in the division. And their goal differential is also tops in the Pacific at +18! Who are these guys?… The Jets entered the game having taken 94 more penalties than the Flames in 51 games – almost two per game more. Crazy. And they continued that tonight, with 3 more penalties to the Flames’ 2… With the win, the Flames have 2 more points than the Canucks, though the Nucks have 3 games in hand… Winnipeg has now lost 4 games in a row and are 8 games over .500. The Flames are also 8 games over, putting them in a virtual tie with Winnipeg, though the Jets have played one more game and have one more point…
Next Up
Game 5 of this 6-game home-stand will be yet another huge game as San Jose, currently 2nd place in the Pacific division, make their second visit to the Dome on Wednesday night at 8PM on Sportsnet.
Lines:
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Jiri Hudler
Lance Bouma – Josh Jooris – David Jones
Mason Raymond – Joe Colborne – Sven Baertschi
Brandon Bollig – Matt Stajan – Paul Byron
Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie
Kris Russell – Dennis Wideman
Deryk Engellend – Raffa Diaz
Jonas Hiller
