Flames Visual Recap 54: Flames beat Canucks in OT, both teams refusing to embrace the tank

The Calgary Flames faced the Vancouver Canucks in the second of a four game series to end the regular season. Both teams looking to end the season on a high note were able to find the back of the net on multiple occasions. The Flames held on for a 6-5 win over the Canucks in overtime.

The Flames started the game strong with four unanswered goals. The Canucks defense struggled to keep the Flames offense at bay, allowing multiple easy goals. Josh Levio opened the scoring for the Flames halfway into the first. The goal came off an offensive zone steal, putting the Flames up by a goal. The Canucks struggled to gain momentum, unable to challenge Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom.

The push continued into the second with consecutive goals from Milan Lucic, Matthew Tkachuk, and Andrew Mangiapane. Rookies Connor Mackey and Jonah Gadjovich dropped the gloves six minutes into the second, looking to impress their respective coaches resulting in offsetting penalties and a 10 minute misconduct for Gadjovich.

The Flames lead the tired Canucks 4-0 halfway through the second period. The Canucks successfully killed off three consecutive penalties, finally gaining much needed momentum against the Flames. The Canucks were able to get on the board with a goal from Travis Hamonic who beat Markstrom far side. Mangiapane responded with a goal less than a minute later, restoring the Flames’ lead to four goals.

The third is where things absolutely fell apart for the Flames. The Canucks made their presence felt in the third, with a four goal run to tie up the game. Tyler Graovac and Brock Boeser each put up a power play goal, followed by a short handed goal from J.T. Miller. The Flames’ top line was unable to capitalize on two opportunities while failing to contain the Canucks on the penalty kill.

Boeser tied the game with his second of the night late in the third period, successfully erasing the Flames’ considerable lead earlier in the game. It was nice to see the Canucks climb back and eventually earn a point in the game.

However, the comeback ended there. Elias Lindholm sealed the deal for the Flames in overtime after three minutes. While the Flames walked away with the victory, the Canucks put up a strong effort to chase down the overconfident Flames by capitalizing on two of four power plays late in the game.

Neither team really embraced the tank fully in this one. The Canucks could have faded gracefully into the night after being down big heading into the third, and the Flames could have sat back and let the Canucks take the win in overtime.

It seems dumb to have these games when meaningful playoff matches are being played at the same time. Sigh.

Check out the game visualizations below.