Calgary Puck

Not much you can take from a game like that.

The Flames had done a good job of winning the five on five portion of the first two games of the series, but struggled when it came to the Oilers powerplay or when the two teams were playing four on four.

Last night the Oilers befuddled the Flames at their own game, scoring four straight five on five goals in the second period, after having a huge territorial advantage in the first period as well, on the way to a convincing 4-1 victory on Sunday night.

The series now sits with Edmonton in the driver seat, up 2-1 and looking to take a stranglehold on Tuesday night in Edmonton.

For the Flames the story continues to be the loss of Chris Tanev, and how his absence has completely downgraded the team’s defense core rendering the five surviving members a shadow of their former selves.

I doubt Tanev is coming back, so they’ll have to look for answers internally.

Gut check time.

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A great start, and an excellent chance to get up two games to nil against the Edmonton Oilers was tossed away due to a complete loss of team discipline, and some odd calls as the Edmonton Oilers came from behind to beat the Calgary Flames 5-3 on Friday night.

Through two periods the Flames had less than two minutes of powerplay time, while Edmonton had over ten minutes and that was the difference in turning a 2-0 Calgary lead into a 3-3 tie early in the third period.

A turnover on a Calgary powerplay in the third resulted in a Zach Hyman game winner shorthanded.

Playoff series have many twists and turns, and now it’s the Flames chance to make adjustments. They’ll have to stay out of the box, and find a way to combat McDavid with foot speed and not fishing sticks as they head to Edmonton to try and reacquire home ice in the series.

The Battle of Alberta is on.

Oh and 8:50 pm game starts suck.

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Well that was something.

The Flames jumped on the Oilers early and often building up a 3-0 first period lead and then cruising …

Ok, maybe not cruising.

Calgary pretty much dominated the game, but a rough outing for Jacob Markstrom turned what should have been a cake walk into a 6-6 third period tie, and more adversity for the Calgary Flames in the 2022 playoffs.

Luckily the Flames were able to re-wrestle control, scoring three straight third period goals to win game one by a 9-6 score, one of the craziest playoff games in Flames history.

Three point nights for Matthew Tkachuk (hat trick), Johnny Gaudreau and Rasmus Andersson while Connor McDavid had four points in the defeat.

Have to assume the Oilers will come back with Mike Smith for game two.

The series resumes on Friday.

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Now that was an experience.

And honestly it played out pretty close to as expected.

We knew a few things going into game seven …

1. It wasn’t going to be easy
2. They’d have to have a huge shot volume on Jake Oettinger to get it done
3. The Flames would never choose a path of less resistance

So the relief pretty much matched the noise level when Johnny Gaudreau went short side high from a bit of a sketchy angle to end the game and the series in overtime, putting the Flames through with a 3-2 overtime victory.

The Flames move on to play the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of the playoffs, a series that starts on Wednesday night at the Saddledome.

That’s the first time these teams have met in 32 years dating back to the 1991 playoff series that had the Flames bow out in seven games.

This could be something else.

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A tale of two hockey games.

A first period where the Flames came out roaring, took over the first period and looked every bit the team that was hell bent on ending things in game six and moving on to round two.

Then the Hyde of teams showed up the rest of the way, as the Flames got stuck in their own zone, turned over many a puck, and pretty much gifted the game to the Dallas Stars forcing game seven.

The 4-2 Stars victory was their best game in the series to date, and perhaps the credit should go to what they changed and accomplished versus what the Flames didn’t or wouldn’t do.

Game seven goes Sunday night in Calgary.

Is this the ’89 first round that took the Flames to new heights? Or the Ducks game seven from 2006 that had us all scratching our heads?

I guess we’ll find out.

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