The Calgary Flames continue to find a way. They appeared dead in the water last night versus the Colorado Avalanche, trailing 2-0 after 40 minutes in which they were outplayed. As they’ve done many times this season, however, they were able to storm back in the third period to get things tied up, and wound up walking away with a 3-2 shootout victory.
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This was a crucial win for the Flames, and an extremely exciting one at that. Even better was that they were able to pick up two points against one of the NHL’s best teams when their best players didn’t have great showings. With that said, here are the three main takeaways from this massive victory.
Depth Comes Up Clutch
As mentioned, the Flames’ big guns didn’t have the greatest of showings in this one. The red-hot Nazem Kadri was held pointless, as was Jonathan Huberdeau. The duo, who have been the Flames’ offensive catalysts this season, combined for just four shots on net. On this night, however, it didn’t matter.
Getting things started offensively was Ryan Lomberg, who was able to park himself in front of the Avs net and bury a loose puck on a scramble play. The fourth line wasn’t done there, either, as Adam Klapka scored just over 30 seconds later to tie things up. Though that fourth line has taken plenty of heat this season, they came up clutch at a huge time for this team, and deserve a ton of praise for the two points last night.
“Huge win for us,” Lomberg said postgame. “We’ve got the group that, there’s no quit in this locker room. We’ve kind of been doing it all year. Proud of the guys staying with it. [Dan Vladar] did a hell of a job keeping us in there, and we knew all we needed was one to get the ball rolling, and we got the job done.”
Vladar Stands Tall
Though it hasn’t been the best season to date for Vladar, he’s been every bit as good as you could ask from a backup goalie since the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Last night, he was given a very difficult task of going up against a high-powered offensive team, and he lived up to the task.
Vladar kept the Flames in the game through the opening two periods, and didn’t allow a goal in the third to get things to extra time. He was also perfect in the shootout, stopping Ross Colton, Charlie Coyle, and Valeri Nichushkin. He wound up stopping 28 of 30 shots, and may be in line for another start or two to close out the season thanks to this massive performance.
Flames Stay Alive
The playoff race is becoming rather daunting for the Flames, as they are chasing a St. Louis Blues team that has rallied for nine straight victories. That said, this team has continued to remain in the hunt, and is by no means out of it. They sit five points back of the Blues, but also hold two games in hand. They’ll need the Blues to start losing some games, but for now, all they can focus on is how they play over their remaining nine outings.
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The Flames will be right back in action tomorrow night versus the Utah Hockey Club before returning home to play the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. Their final game of the week will come on Saturday in a difficult but essentially must-win game versus the Vegas Golden Knights.
