FLAMES NIP COYOTES 3- 2
Calgary gets important win at home
FLAMES 3,
COYOTES 2
Entering the Ed Whalen Media Lounge at the Scotiabank Saddledome, Bob Hartley made a request before beginning his postgame analysis of Tuesday’s 3- 2 victory over the visiting Arizona Coyotes.
“Let’s do this quick,” ordered the Calgary Flames head coach.
No offence to the media, but the Los Angeles Kings were finishing off their game with the Edmonton Oilers and — at the time of Hartley’s press conference — their Battle of Alberta counterparts were ahead 3- 2 and would go onto win 4- 2 before he was finished. Who could blame him? Because of Calgary’s victory — which improved them to 44- 29- 7 and gave them 95 points — and Edmonton beat the Kings ( 39- 26- 15), the Flames can officially clinch a playoff spot Thursday. Which would be the first time this city has seen an NHL playoff team since 2008- 09.
Which, according to many prognosticators, media and fans, was not what they expected at the start of the 2014- 15 season.
“That’s the focus,” said Flames centre Matt Stajan. “We’ve been playing all year for that. We’re going to have a hungry team coming in that’s fighting for their playoff lives like we are. We’ll get us ourselves as prepared as we can.”
On Tuesday, they got it done by scoring twice in the third to seal the victory and improved to 44- 29- 7 with 95 points.
And, thanks to their friends (?), the Oilers, the Flames firmly held onto their Western Conference playoff and third place in the Pacific Division. A win Thursday and they’re in. “About a month ago, I started telling them to recognize the situation every day,” Hartley said. “( Wednesday) is no different. We’ve been preaching this every day ... we all know what’s at stake. There’s a great team coming in, the Stanley Cup champs are in our building. Hey ... we’re on a mission.”
Considering the importance of Tuesday’s game and the out- oftown National Hockey League action, the game was harder than it needed to be.
Tied 1- 1 heading into the third period, the Flames pulled ahead only 1: 13 into the third when David Jones deposited a rebound from Michael Ferland’s blast.
More panic ensued when the pesky Coyotes continued to press and knotted the score again.
Jonas Hiller was on the left side to anticipate Kyle Chipchura’s shot but at the last minute, the centreman slid it over to Craig Cunningham. The 32- year- old Swiss goalie couldn’t get to the opposite side in time and Cunningham one- timed it past the Flames netminder.
Shortly after, Sean Monahan put away the go- ahead goal while Johnny Gaudreau was being tied up by B. J. Crombeen and provided a screen.
Arizona goalie Mike Smith, facing 32 Flames shots in the end, did his part.
“Those are tricky games,” Stajan said. “Their goalie made some big saves early and when you only have a one- goal lead, and that team has nothing to lose, they kind of pour it on. “But we found a way.” The Flames had ample opportunities in front of them from the get- go with three power- plays in the first period alone.
The first one came when the game was 32 seconds old after Oliver Ekman- Larsson tripped Dennis Wideman. The second one, Martin Erat for interference on Jones 7: 28 into the first period, the Flames capitalized.
And while Joe Vitale managed to get a short- handed chance — hitting a post with Hiller out of his net — Johnny Gaudreau jumped on a rebound with 40 seconds left in the man- advantage.
A scary moment happened when Wideman went down behind the Flames net, hitting the bottom of his neck on the boards after getting tied up with Sam Gagner. Not great to see, especially with their captain Mark Giordano out of the picture for the ( post?) season and Raphael Diaz recently sidelined with a knee injury. Luckily, the veteran defender was back out and actually drew another Flames penalty with 1: 27 remaining in the first period.
But the sense of panic kicked in when Arizona — out- shot 18- 7 in the first period and had one regulation win in the previous 28 dates — tied it with 2: 51 remaining in the second frame.
Despite shot- blocking efforts by Kris Russell and Wideman, Crombeen managed to rap home a bouncing puck past Jonas Hiller.
Another big blow in the middle period was the loss of Lance Bouma, who’d blocked a shot with his upper body and departed to the Flames dressing room for the remainder of the game. ( For the visitors, Shane Doan suffered a lower body in the third period and did not return).