After being a healthy scratch for six games since being called up, Calgary Flames 2019 first-round pick Jakob Pelletier finally made his NHL debut in Saturday’s matinee against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Flames looked to rebound after a tough loss against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions and had a tough matchup against another top team.
The Flames opened the game up with purpose and were very much the better team. When Pelletier was on the ice, his presence was noticeable and he saw good results. His first NHL shot on goal coming against Andrei Vasilevskiy resulted in a save, but it was a great chance that was worth getting excited over anyway.
Pelletier’s debut saw him play 5:39 at 5v5 and 6:34 in total, and he looked great on most of his shifts. How the Flames deploy him in coming games remains to be known but Sutter’s post-game comments were less than inspiring.
As for the game itself, the Flames were able to go up a goal in the first when they could have had more, failed to capitalise on a full two-minute 5v3 power play, and then gave up two goals against less than a minute apart in the second period to see their lead disappear.
However, Calgary responded almost immediately to tie the game up, and then restored their one-goal lead heading into the third. An insurance goal came along and it forced the Lightning to pull their goalie, and the Flames scored twice more on the empty net.
Big notes about the game include Pelletier’s limited ice time after a solid start, the Flames penalty kill going a perfect six-for-six against the league’s second ranked power play, and Dan Vladar making huge stops to lead the team to victory.
Charts from the win are below.
Game events
Goals
| Goal | Assists | Time | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nazem Kadri (PPG) | Tyler Toffoli, Rasmus Andersson | 17:58 | 1st | TBL 0 – 1 CGY |
| Steven Stamkos | Unassisted | 10:20 | 2nd | TBL 1 – 1 CGY |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | Nicholas Paul, Pat Maroon | 11:08 | 2nd | TBL 2 – 1 CGY |
| Tyler Toffoli | Elias Lindholm, Dillon Dube | 12:18 | 2nd | TBL 2 – 2 CGY |
| Rasmus Andersson | Andrew Mangiapane, Mikael Backlund | 17:20 | 2nd | TBL 2 – 3 CGY |
| Dillon Dube | Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin | 07:40 | 3rd | TBL 2 – 4 CGY |
| Anthony Cirelli (PPG) | Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov | 15:58 | 3rd | TBL 3 – 4 CGY |
| Jonathan Huberdeau | Milan Lucic, Noah Hanifin | 17:44 | 3rd | TBL 3 – 5 CGY |
| Blake Coleman | Noah Hanifin, Mikael Backlund | 19:13 | 3rd | TBL 3 – 6 CGY |
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All situations Corsi
5v5 Corsi
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