Rss

Riding a five game winning streak, the Calgary Flames headed to Glendale looking for revenge from their last visit. Mission accomplished. The Flames were equal parts defensively structured and offensively opportunistic en route to a 5-2 road victory to extend their winning ways to six games.

The Rundown

The Flames did something unusual in the opening frame: they scored early and often. Just two minutes in, Cam Talbot made a big save at one end and the fourth line went the other way up the ice. Michael Frolik took a nice pass from Zac Rinaldo and drove the net, tucking it behind Antti Raanta on the first Flames shot of the game to make it 1-0 for the visitors.

A couple minutes later, Derek Ryan’s face-off win was teed up by Johnny Gaudreau to make it 2-0 Flames.

Shots were 15-11 Coyotes and scoring chances 10-5 Coyotes in the opening period.

The Flames extended their lead early in the second period. After an initial scoring chance didn’t materialize, Frolik stole the puck in the corner and fed Rinaldo in the slot for the one-timer to make it a 3-0 Flames lead.

The Flames made it 4-0 later in the second period. Talbot made a big save at one end and a couple nice passes later, Sean Monahan scored on the rush.

Jakob Chychrun scored with 11 seconds left to spoil Talbot’s clean sheet off a scramble in the Flames zone to make it 4-1.

Shots were 15-15, while scoring chances were 12-9 Coyotes in the second.

The Flames spent much of the third period defending. Rinaldo drew a late penalty and Milan Lucic deflected a low Rasmus Andersson shot into the net on the power play to give the Flames a 5-1 lead.

Phil Kessel added a late power play goal to cut the lead to 5-2, but it was too little, too late.

Why the Flames Won

For a team that spends all its time chasing, they managed to get a lead early and not just sit on it but also add to it. They gave up quite a few shots and more than a handful of scoring chances, but they did a superb job of boxing out defensively around their slot and net-front area and largely stopping Arizona from getting too much momentum in the offensive zone.

When your team keeps high danger chances to a minimum and stays out of the penalty box, good things tend to happen. The Flames played an effective road game and got a pair of points for their efforts.

Red Warrior

Let’s give it collectively to Frolik and Rinaldo, the fourth line super friends. They combined for the Flames’ first and third goals and were generally big positive contributors.

The Turning Point

Scoring two goals in the opening four minutes was huge for a team that hadn’t scored in Glendale in their last two visits. From there, they just tried to play smart defense knowing that the slightest mistake wouldn’t tilt the game.

The Numbers

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Percentage stats are 5v5.

Corsi
For%		 O-Zone
Face-Off%		 Game
Score
Mangiapane 60.9 37.5 0.400
Hanifin 52.9 26.7 1.075
Jankowski 52.6 71.4 0.350
Rinaldo 52.2 66.7 2.175
Lindholm 50.0 27.3 -0.170
Frolik 46.2 66.7 1.650
Rieder 44.4 33.3 -0.070
Stone 43.8 30.8 0.150
Hamonic 43.2 29.4 0.525
Brodie 35.4 37.5 -0.175
Gaudreau 35.3 27.3 0.750
Ryan 33.3 27.3 0.440
Lucic 31.0 25.0 0.490
Andersson 25.0 42.9 0.050
Giordano 23.5 38.5 -0.475
Dube 22.2 21.4 -0.775
Monahan 20.0 21.4 -0.005
Backlund 18.8 21.4 -0.160
Talbot — — 3.100
Rittich — — —

This and That

Up Next

The Flames (17-12-4) are slated to stay overnight in Glendale and fly home tomorrow. They host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night at the Saddledome.

Mary Brown’s Chicken & Taters is no fuss, no fillers. We make our signature chicken and other menu items 100% fresh from scratch. After 50 years, we are still proudly keeping it authentic and perfectly seasoned as Mary Brown herself would have done it. We take our signature chicken with serious dedication but, hey, we still know how to have fun with it — just try our Chicken Pop-Ins. Visit us to explore all our menu options and find a location near you.