On Tuesday night, we saw the Vegas Golden Knights and Calgary Flames square off at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
It was the first of four matchups between these two Pacific Division opponents this season, with the second being played later this week on Saturday.
Game Recap
The Golden Knights and Flames traded chances throughout the first few minutes of the game. However, it would be the Flames that opened the scoring just over seven minutes into the game off a successful blue line pinch from Mackenzie Weegar. After getting the puck back, Weegar walked the blue line, then found captain Mikael Backlund in the left circle, who rifled a shot past Adin Hill for his first goal of the season.
The Flames kept the pressure coming after scoring the first goal. Just under five minutes later, they forced a defensive zone turnover behind the Golden Knights’ net. The puck popped out to Blake Coleman in the slot, and he ripped it over Hill’s other shoulder to take an early two-goal lead.
This is where the score sat after the first frame. To start the second period, the Golden Knights made a change in the crease. Akira Schmid came in and took over for Hill, who left the game with a lower-body injury after an awkward fall following a shot that rang off his mask (via Jesse Granger).
The Golden Knights broke the ice exactly halfway through the game. Off a Flames offensive zone turnover, Mark Stone recovered the loose puck. He found a streaking Eichel who took a shot off the rush. Dustin Wolf made the first save for the Flames. However, Eichel followed his shot and tapped the puck in as Wolf wasn’t able to swallow up the initial opportunity.
This was the lone goal of the second period. To start the third period, the Golden Knights came out pressing for offense. Wolf did all he could to keep the lead, making several saves on grade A chances before the Golden Knights finally tied the game on a goal from Kaeden Korczak, who found a loose puck in the slot.
The Golden Knights then took the lead just over two minutes later on Jack Eichel’s second goal of the game after blowing by Flames defenseman Daniil Miromanov and taking the puck to the net and jamming one past Wolf for the 3-2 lead with under 15 minutes left to play.
After scoring three unanswered goals, the Golden Knights shut down the Flames and went on to close out the 4-2 win with Tomáš Hertl adding an empty net goal in the final seconds of the contest.
These two will meet up again on Saturday in Sin City for the second matchup in the season series.
