Flames Visual Recap 66: Special teams showdown sees Calgary fall short against Colorado

In a big matchup between the best in the West, the Calgary Flames faced off against the Colorado Avalanche for their regular season series finale. Both teams had one win apiece—although the Avalanche lost in overtime the first time the teams met up—so the game was going to settle the score. It was also the first game in Calgary as both contests earlier in the season were in Denver.

First period

Surprisingly, the first period was low-event for the two teams. Especially coming off a nine-goal showing for the Flames the previous game, the pace between Calgary and Colorado was completely different despite the prowess of the two teams on the ice.

Not much happened throughout the frame until a late Calgary power play where they started to pile on chances. However, the Flames couldn’t solve Darcy Kuemper and the power play bled into the second.

Second period

The Flames opened the second period with the momentum they previously had on the power play, but were still unable to get the game’s first goal. A bit of back and forth between the teams and eventually the Flames found themselves on a lengthy 5-on-3 power play.

Finally, Calgary got on the board on the two-man advantage. Tyler Toffoli called for a one-timer and had his stick reaching for the press box for an eternity, and Rasmus Andersson got the pass to him for a perfect shot to break the deadlock.

The Avalanche answered back on a power play of their own as Valeri Nichushkin was parked in front of the Flames’ net and redirected a shot by Cale Makar past Jacob Markstrom.

Calgary had a far superior period and actually held a huge advantage at 5v5, but the game’s only goals came on each team’s power plays, and the even strength scoring was held to zero.

Third period

With the game as tight as it was, it was a game where the next goal scored could pretty much result in the winner. Well, just past the midway mark of the third period, that pretty much happened. The Avalanche were once again on the power play, and Nichushkin got his stick blade down in front of the net to redirect a pass from Mikko Rantanen.

Colorado was up by one goal and the Flames had under ten minutes to get the game back to evens. However, tried as they did, Kuemper was sharp throughout the whole game. It was a battle of goaltending and special teams, and the extra power play goal by the Avalanche was the difference maker.

The game visualisations are below.