The Calgary Flames have opened their season with a win over the Vancouver Canucks. They trailed by three goals multiple times but as it was the team’s calling card a season ago, the Flames clawed back to earn a 6-5 win in overtime. It was the Flames’ first season opening win on the road since 1986.
There were a ton of storylines in this one so let’s get right into it.
A very rocky start
The Flames in the first period were not sharp, to say the least. The Canucks came out flying and before you knew it, the Flames found themselves in a 3-0 hole. Anthony Mantha cut the lead to two with his first goal as a Calgary Flame with a slick breakaway goal shorthanded. Just minutes later though, the Canucks restored their three-goal lead and made it 4-1.
Things only got worse as Kevin Rooney got hit hard by J.T. Miller and went very awkwardly into the boards. It looked extremely bad for Rooney, but he was able to get up with the help of his teammates and make his way off the ice. We are still waiting for an update on his condition.
There were a few scrums following the hit that even included Mantha getting into a fight with Miller. The first period came to a close and it looked like the Flames were going to get run out of the building.
The Flames settled in for the second and third period
After an awful first period, the Flames got their legs underneath them and went to work. They controlled the play for a majority of the second period and were rewarded near the end of the period when Rasmus Andersson ripped one home and stared down a few Canucks fans to cut the lead to 4-2.
The comeback didn’t end there as Martin Pospisil took a pass from Mantha and popped one top shelf to make it 4-3. That assist also completed the Gordie Howe hat trick for Mantha, so a pretty good Flames debut all around from him. Later in the period the Flames tied it on the powerplay on a point shot from MacKenzie Weegar, and the Flames brought the game back to evens. Not too long later Jonathan Huberdeau banged in a rebound to make it 5-4, giving the Flames their first lead of the night.
The Canucks however, would tie the game up late as Mikael Backlund’s attempt at an empty net was blocked by Quinn Hughes and Miller raced the other way to rip a slapshot over the shoulder of Dan Vladar.
An absolutely crazy first game of the year was off to overtime.
Connor Zary’s overtime heroics
The Flames first game of the year was off to an extra period and last year’s rookie sensation Connor Zary showed why he was so good a season ago. He picked the puck up and made a gorgeous toe drag around Filip Hronek and slid the puck by Arturs Silovs to give the Flames the win in a season opener for the third year in a row.
A very fun game to start to the year came to a close with a win for the Flames. No matter how you handicapped this season, it was great to see the excitement in a lot of the players and the skill level that the group showed in the final 40 minutes. The Flames may not win a ton of games this year, but if they can make them as fun as this one, well this season may not be as much of a drag as we originally thought it would be.
