Flames hold off Penguins’ surge
It’s been almost two weeks, but Calgary finally gets back in win column thanks to depth players
PITTSBURGH — The Calgary Flames aren’t going home empty-handed.
They didn’t make life easy on themselves, though.
A largely underwhelming four-game road trip was capped off by the Flames’ best performance since the all-star break in late January and earned them their first NHL win in almost two weeks.
The 5-4 victory by the Flames (35-16-7) over the host Pittsburgh Penguins (3021-7) was fully-deserved, too, as the team’s depth players stepped up in a big way and delivered a refreshingly hightempo performance for which the hosts at PPG Paints Arena couldn’t quite match.
After days of facing questions about why they couldn’t find a way to win, the Flames were understandably ecstatic to leave Pittsburgh with two points.
“They’re a good team and they had a good pushback there at the end,” said Flames winger Sam Bennett, who scored the game-winner and scrapped with Marcus Pettersson after a hit on Austin Czarnik the Flames didn’t like. “We got on our heels a little bit, but in the end, we gutted it out and that’s a huge win for our team after not the best showing the last couple games.”
Look ... if we’re being honest, this was far from a perfect performance from the Flames.
They got themselves into penalty trouble in the third period, giving the Penguins a chance to get back in the game with two power-play goals from Evgeni Malkin.
The first line was also largely anonymous offensively, with Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan combining for only two shots.
With the first-line struggling, the team’s depth stepped up.
Andrew Mangiapane opened the scoring with his second NHL goal when he deflected an Oliver Kylington shot past Penguins goalie Matt Murray.
The lead didn’t last long, though, as Jake Guentzel evened things up with a deflection past Smith at the 17:41 mark.
Heading into the first intermission tied with the Penguins is no small thing, but the Flames came out in the second looking like a team that was possessed.
First, Michael Frolik buried a rebound to make it 2-1 less than two minutes into the frame.
Just over three minutes in, it was Czarnik, who had been levelled by Pettersson earlier in the game, buried a pretty pass from Derek Ryan — who was excellent all game and had three assists — to put the Flames up by two.
Pens superstar Sidney Crosby made things a little more interesting when he snuck the puck in past Smith at the 6:52 mark, but the second period belonged to the Flames.
Travis Hamonic and Sam Bennett would each score before the period was through, and the Flames went into the locker-room for second intermission with a comfortable 5-2 lead.
It wasn’t the usual suspects who stepped up for the Flames, to be sure, but if Saturday proved anything, it’s that the Calgary crew can still find ways to win when the top line is off its game.
“Any time you can get scoring from your bottom two lines, it’s important,” said Flames goalie Mike Smith, who had a second solid showing in 36 hours and stopped 34 of the 38 shots that were fired his way.
The Penguins came storming back in the third period with Malkin’s two power-play markers, but in the end, the Flames were able to hold them off despite a hectic final minute where their hosts threw everything they had at them and came awfully close to tying things up.