About Last Night #51: Flames head into All-Star break with overtime win over 'Canes

The Carolina Hurricanes visited the Calgary Flames for the Flames’ last game before the All-Star break, bringing with them former Flames Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland. A highly anticipated return for two major players for the Flames from previous seasons, they both had a warm welcome from the C of Red.

Under two minutes into the first period, Oliver Kylington put the Flames up 1-0. Garnet Hathaway and Rasmus Andersson would get the assists. The Swedish rookies connecting alongside Hathaway for a goal boasts just how well the Flames have developed their players.

Related: Breaking down each team’s roster by nationality

Later in the period, Hamilton would tie the game for the Hurricanes, as his initial shot was tipped past David Rittich by T.J. Brodie. The game would remain tied heading into the first intermission.

In the second period, the teams found themselves playing four-on-four hockey, with Lucas Wallmark and Sean Monahan sitting in their respective penalty boxes. On the ensuing play, Mark Jankowski picked up a loose puck right in front of Petr Mrazek, who had no chance on making the save.

The Flames would hold a 2-1 lead all the way through until the final minute of regulation, where Sebastian Aho tied the game thanks to some pretty passing from Teuvo Teravainen and Justin Williams.

As the game headed to overtime, Bill Peters opted to start Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm, and Brodie to start the extra frame. The trio only needed 15 seconds to win the game; Backlund scored a highlight-reel goal that beat Mrazek far-side. The Flames head to the All-Star break six points clear of the San Jose Sharks with a game in hand.

Statistical Breakdown

Team Stats

	All Situations	5v5	SVA 5v5
CF	40.2%	35.0%	36.3%
SCF	40.8%	33.3%	33.0%
HDCF	47.6%	30.8%	30.3%

5v5 Player Stats

Calgary Flames

James Neal led the Flames with four scoring chances
Hathaway led the Flames with a 64.7 CF%
Backlund was in his own zone for much of the night, ending at a game-low 21.4%

Carolina Hurricanes

Teravainen was a game-high 75.9 CF%
Williams had a game-high 3 iHDCF
Every single Hurricane was at in the green for CF%; Saku Maenalanen was a team-low 50.0 CF%.

Stats courtesy: Natural Stat Trick

Line Combinations

Calgary Flames

Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Neal – Backlund – Frolik
Tkachuk – Jankowski – Bennett
Mangiapane – Ryan – Hathaway

Giordano – Brodie
Hanifin – Hamonic
Kylington – Andersson

Rittich
Smith

Carolina Hurricanes

Ferland – Aho – Williams
Niederreiter – McKegg – Teravainen
McGinn – Wallmark – Svechnikov
Foegele – Maenalanen – Martinook

Slavin – Pesce
de Haan – Faulk
van Riemsdyk – Hamilton

Mrazek
Nedeljkovic

Stats courtesy: DailyFaceoff

Thoughts on the Game

It certainly wasn’t a pretty game, but as the Flames have done all season, they found a way to win. They played sloppily, loose defensively, and still never trailed in the game. Perhaps they were looking forward to a nice 10 day break, and thankfully their lacklustre still resulted in a win.

The game last night was definitely within grasp because of Rittich. He was fantastic again in the crease, and there’s no doubt we’ll see him make the majority of the starts in the next 31 team games. Fingers crossed he can replicate his regular season success in the playoffs.

Not much else to say in this one. The Flames return to action after the break against the Capitals, who won’t have Alex Ovechkin in their lineup. He’ll be serving his one game suspension for skipping the All-Star game. Hopefully the Flames can start back on a high note.