Calgary Puck

Back to back nights in the city of Los Angeles, usually a death trap for the Flames in recent seasons.

But tonight after last night’s 3-2 win in L.A., the Flames find a way to win another this time in a shoot out turning back the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in a shoot out after blowing a 3-1 lead.

The Flames got a good push from a new fab’d third line with both Sean Monahan and Blake Coleman getting off lengthy goalless streaks to propel the win.

The Flames are now 2-0-0 on a four game road trip through the West Coast of the Pacific Division, erasing a lot of doubts about their record being padded against the East.

Next up the Sharks on Sunday night.

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Darryl Sutter talks a lot about bringing your “B” game when you don’t have your “A” game, and that teams more often than not with effective “B” games tend to do quite well.

Tonight I’m not sure if that was the “B” or “C” game from the Flames, but they muscled their way to a 3-2 victory in Los Angeles on the strength of their second powerplay unit and solid goaltending from Jacob Markstrom.

The win starts off a three games in four nights and four games in six nights trip through the Pacific Division, so it’s a relief to get that rolling with a win.

Next up Anaheim tomorrow night for game two of the four game junket.

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It seems like a familiar script.

Get up on home ice, lose the lead, go to overtime, lose the game.

It’s happened three times this year on home ice, but tonight was at least a little bit different … an honestly I mean a little bit.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, once they tied the game with about seven minutes to play in the third period had plenty of opportunities to keep the script very much on queue, but Jacob Markstrom bailed the team out.

The shoot out went seven rounds with Markstrom making six saves, allowing Mikael Backlund’s 7th round snipe to stand up as the game winner as the Flames conclude this three game mini home stand with a 2-1-0 record with a 2-1 shoot out victory on Monday night.

Now it’s off to California for back to back games on Thursday and Friday.

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That one wasn’t pretty.

The Flames got the start they wanted, and honestly the finish, but in the middle there was a lot of sloppy, unforced errors and breakdowns, turning a 2-0 lead into a 4-2 deficit as the Jets finally ended their five game losing streak.

For the Flames it brought an end to a four game winning streak, and seven games getting at least one point, as they try and start a new streak when the Penguins come to town on Monday.

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Beating the Boston Bruins in Boston on the second half of a back to back with your back up goalie in net and having been on the road for almost 14 days is pretty impressive.

The stuff of legends.

But mucking your way through a trap game, an encounter against a lesser opponent on home ice, jet lagged, after a long trip and with your brains usually somewhere else is almost as impressive.

The Flames were exactly that on Tuesday night in turning back the Chicago Blackhawks by a 5-2 score despite not having “it” to the degree the team likes to display on a night in night out basis.

Two leads blown, but a third period late tally by Matthew Tkachuk on a fortunate bounce and two empty netters and just like that the Flames have won four in a row, and get rewarded with four days between games.

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