Flames Visual Recap 56: Home point streak ends in loss to Capitals

In the final meeting between the two teams, the Calgary Flames hosted the Washington Capitals on the second half of a back-to-back. Dan Vladar started in goal for the Flames and the Capitals went with Vitek Vanecek.

The Flames were trying to extend their point streak on home ice to 14 games entering this game.

Game recap

The Flames got out to the first lead of the game midway through the first period off a goal from Elias Lindholm. That’s all the scoring that would happen in the first and the Flames took a one goal lead into the first intermission. It was a very sloppy first for both teams with lots of icing calls and a power play for each side. It was clear the Flames were a tired group.

The second period was much more eventful. Adam Ruzicka made good on his promotion to the middle six and buried his fifth goal of the season off a gorgeous feed from Andrew Mangiapane. However, the Capitals scored two goals to tie the game before the second was over, courtesy of Conor Sheary and Alex Ovechkin.

Oliver Kylington gave the Flames the go-ahead goal early in the third period, but the Capitals stormed back and tied it five minutes later off a goal from Anthony Mantha. Then, right after the expiration of a Ruzicka penalty, Nic Dowd gave the Capitals their first lead of the game.

With Vladar pulled late in the third, Ovechkin scored the empty net goal to give the Capitals some insurance. Lindholm scored in the final minute to make things interesting, but that’s as close as the Flames would get. The Capitals took a 5-4 win at the Saddledome to end the Flames’ home point streak at 13 games.

Check out the data visualizations from the game below!