Flames Visual Recap 10: Calgary falls in overtime to Dallas, point streak extends to nine games

The Calgary Flames came into their tenth game of the season against the Dallas Stars just a few hours removed from being involved—and missing out—on a Jack Eichel trade. With the trade official and the Flames remaining in tact, their main focus immediately shifted back into on-ice hockey and they sought to extend their point streak to nine games.

First period

The Flames had an uncharacteristic first period to start the game—for 2021–22 standards. Their opening 20 minutes was reminiscent of the Flames of yesteryear. The Stars had control over the Flames and Calgary didn’t have the same jump to their game as they have had under Darryl Sutter‘s tutelage.

Calgary was outplayed by Dallas—a team that’s typically low-event—and they got the better of the Flames, getting ahead early on a power play goal with Matthew Tkachuk in the penalty box. Miro Heiskanen passed the puck into the slot and Denis Gurianov had his stick perfectly placed to tip the puck past Jacob Markstrom. The period ended with the Flames being down 1–0.

Second period

The second period showed a more up-to-date version of the Flames as they shifted momentum back into their favour. Whatever control the Stars had in the first, the Flames showed a better version in the second. With five minutes remaining in the third, the Flames’ persistence culminated with a goal that was initially shot by Nikita Zadorov and tipped into the net by Milan Lucic.

A few minutes later, the Flames were on a two-man advantage and capitalised for their first lead of the game. It was scored by none other than Matthew Tkachuk, whose name was floated around as part of a trade package for Eichel which was ultimately revealed to be untrue. The Flames had the time and space to connect on their passes and Tkachuk was planted in the slot for a quick release.

The Flames were still on the power play after the goal but as Blake Comeau exited the box with Dallas successful at killing their second penalty, he was immediately on offence and scored to tie the game back at 2–2 with seconds left in the period.

Third period

With the game tied up, the two teams turned to the final frame to solve the game. Early in the third period, Tyler Seguin scored on a shot from Alexander Radulov that took a few bounces off of Seguin’s body into the back of the Flames’ net. As the period went on, the Flames had a bit of a halfhearted push to tie it back up. It wasn’t til the period was drawing to its close that the Flames built some more pressure and earned a couple of straight power plays to continue their vie at a comeback.

On their second power play, Markstrom was tagged for a delay of game penalty but video replay showed the call was questionable. However, the 4v4 play was exactly what the Flames needed to tie the game. Oliver Kylington showed his speed and skated the puck into the zone on a huge individual effort and drawing several Stars players towards him. He found Zadorov open to take a shot that beat Anton Khudobin on a partial screen.

Overtime

The game was knotted at 3–3 and required overtime. The Flames extended their point streak to nine games and looked to get back into the win column. Overtime was largely controlled by the Flames with a couple of grade-A chances and extended offesnive zone time, but as soon as the Stars got control of the puck, Jamie Benn took a shot that beat Markstrom to end the game. Stars win 4–3, Flames lose their second game in a row.

Check out the data visualisations from the game below! Note that the NHL’s play-by-play data has an error with Markstrom’s time on ice.