The Calgary Flames began their season with a 6-5 overtime win against their Canadian Pacific Division rival, the Vancouver Canucks, on Wednesday night. It was just about as perfect of a season-opening game as any hockey fan could ask for; chock full of goals, pretty plays, adversity, momentum swings, and much more. The Flames found themselves down 3-0 and then 4-1 after the first period but clawed all the way back to tie things up in the third. They gained the lead shortly after but relinquished it just before the end of the game, leading to overtime where last season’s rookie sensation Connor Zary sealed the deal. Without further ado, a game this dramatic requires plenty of analysis.
Interesting Officiating Early
From early on in this eventual barnburner, it seemed that the Flames couldn’t buy a break. Officiating-wise, it was especially tough. At 12:19 of the opening period, fourth liner Kevin Rooney got absolutely levelled by J.T. Miller. It was an awkward play; Rooney was off balance when he was checked by Miller and sent into boards headfirst. The impact knocked him unconscious and his lack of movement was a scary sight. After a few minutes and with the assistance of two teammates, Rooney went off the ice upright and alert. He did not return to the game.
Despite Rooney not touching the puck before the hit, Miller wasn’t assessed a penalty for interference or boarding, which many fans clamored for. The ruling was that Miller conducted an offensive reverse hit on Rooney as both men were seemingly anticipating contact with the puck coming to Miller. Instead, two coincidental minor penalties for roughing were given to each team but the Canucks were awarded a power play as Adam Klapka’s was upgraded to a double minor. Daniel Sprong scored on the ensuing power play to make it 1-0 Canucks.
When the Canucks scored their third goal, the puck had been contacted by a player’s glove and goaltender Dan Vladar’s helmet was off. The officials signalled a good goal despite this. In the second, officials waited to blow a play dead when Vladar was missing his glove and stick after they were kicked off by a Canuck behind the net. The officials claimed that he caused the incident himself and that is why the play continued. To add on, with about 12 seconds left in the second period, Canucks forward Elias Pettersson held Martin Pospisil against the boards with a glove in his face. This came after Pospisil rubbed out Jake DeBrusk earlier, to which Pettersson did not take a liking.
No Shortage of Dramatics
The game was a back and forth affair that had fans of both teams at the edges of their seats. Near the start of the game, Flames newcomer Anthony Mantha missed the net by about five feet on a breakaway attempt. After the Rooney hit, he was visibly emotional and took a bad penalty for roughing Miller. However, as fate would have it, he exited the penalty box and found himself on another breakaway, this time beating goalie Arturs Silovs shorthanded with a beautiful deke to his backhand to cut the score to 3-1. However, Brock Boeser tapped in a Miller pass one minute and 29 seconds later to restore the three goal lead, violently removing the Flames’ first taste of momentum. After a multitude of unsuccessful challenges, Mantha and Miller finally fought with about a minute left in period one.
The Flames picked themselves up and dusted themselves off for period two, scoring once and limiting the Canucks’ scoring chances completely. It was a defensive masterclass of sorts that saw them dominate puck possession and outshoot the Canucks 10-3. Rasmus Andersson sniped a beautiful wrist shot goal for his first of the season to make the score 4-2 with 2:59 to go in the period.
In the third, the score was quickly (17:19 mark) cut to 4-3 on a slot wrist shot goal by Pospisil. Then, the Flames tied things up at 11:44 of the third with a Mackenzie Weegar point shot. The Flames had come all the way back from being down 4-1, showing immense character and composure as a team. The commentators were wondering what magical speech head coach Ryan Huska must have given at the first intermission. The fight didn’t end there; a juicy Canucks rebound got behind Vladar, but bottom pairing defender Brayden Pachal got down on one knee and kicked out the shot to prevent a sure goal. Vladar made sure to give the Saskatchewan native a quick love tap after bailing him out.
Something Flames fans surely loved to see was Jonathan Huberdeau getting on the board to make it 5-4 and give the Flames their first lead of the game. The 31-year-old has obviously struggled offensively as a Flame, so for him to get a goal in game one is a positive sign. With just over a minute left in the game and with Silovs pulled, Flames captain Mikael Backlund carried the puck out of the neutral zone and fired a shot into the yawning cage. Canucks captain Quinn Hughes blocked that shot, gained possession of the puck and quickly sprung Miller on a partial break. To put salt in the wound for Flames fans already upset with him, Miller hammered a slap shot high glove on Vladar to tie the game at 18:23 of the third period.
Nevertheless, Zary would go on to score an amazing game-winning overtime goal at 1:33 of the extra frame. The youngster carried the puck into the Canucks’ zone after a stretch pass from Pospisil and weaved past defender Filip Hronek with a gorgeous toe drag. With the puck on his backhand, he deked an outstretched Silovs and deposited the puck into the net with a forehand tuck for what is surely the best goal of his young career.
Newcomers Look Good
Forgetting the immense team building exercise that this game served as for a moment, there were a lot of individual successes. The Flames saw a multitude of new faces on the roster to begin this season, including Mantha, Ryan Lomberg, defenders Kevin Bahl and Jake Bean, and 19-year-old preseason standout Samuel Honzek, amongst others. Each had excellent first games. Mantha finished with his aforementioned first goal as a Flame, an assist on the Pospisil goal and one fight to give him a Gordie Howe hat trick in his Flames debut. Bahl also registered an assist, was a plus two, had two hits and a blocked shot. Bean assisted on Huberdeau’s go-ahead goal, blocked a shot, and had two takeaways.
Related: Flames’ Honzek Deserving of NHL Roster Spot
Lomberg did his job well; he was brought in to be a fourth line disturbance and he was in his 10:54 of ice time. He had two hits and seemed to be in every scrum or net front battle. Honzek almost scored his first NHL goal on his first NHL shift, as the teenager broke in and put a cross ice feed on net at 19:03 of the first period. Despite his inexperience, he looked solid on the top line with Andrei Kuzmenko and Nazem Kadri, the second power-play unit, and the penalty kill. The hulking forward was net front on the Andersson goal to make him a plus one, and had two hits and a blocked shot to boot.
Flames Showed What Season Could Be in Victory
If this is the Flames team we’re going to get this season — one of patience, perseverance and a mature work ethic — they is going to surprise many doubters. Even though this season’s roster is a bit rag tag and the focus is on the future, there are still a handful of gritty veterans and young players that don’t want to be passed over just yet. This game served as a bar for what the 2024-25 Flames can do. Whether they continue to do it is the question.
