Roaring Flames torch the Stars
Gaudreau scores on penalty shot as Calgary ties series with dominant effort
DALLAS — It was the Calgary Flames' most impressive performance of these playoffs so far.
It was precisely what they needed.
The Flames were superb from start to finish, and downright dominant for stretches, in a 4-1 victory in Game 4 of their opening-round series against the Dallas Stars.
This best-of-seven battle is now tied at two wins apiece as the fun shifts back to the Saddledome for Wednesday's Game 5.
This was, quite frankly, the sort of showing that most were expecting from the heavily favoured Flames. After falling behind in the series with back-to-back losses, it was a statement that they won't be an easy out. You could feel the momentum shifting Monday in the Big D.
During an eye-opening — and, for the hosts, lung-burning — sequence in the second period at American Airlines Center, Stars teammates John Klingberg and Jason Robertson were both stuck on the ice for north of four minutes as the out-of-towners played an older-brother-esque game of keepaway. That length of shift is even frowned upon in beer league.
If not for another nice night by netminder Jake Oettinger, the score could have been lopsided. Rasmus Andersson, Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm were the only guys to solve him.
The Flames peppered Oettinger with a grand total of 53 shots, and the breakout backstop had already racked up 30 saves when Andersson finally put one past him on a 5-on-3 power play. Matthew Tkachuk teed up that icebreaker, a bardown blast from just beyond the top of the circle.
Gaudreau was awarded a third-period penalty shot — he was hooked by Klingberg, perhaps still sucking wind after that marathon shift — and the superstar winger made the most of it with a filthy deke to his backhand and a five-hole finish.
Four minutes later, Gaudreau spied Lindholm all alone in the slot and he sizzled a shot just inside the post to add to the lead. The firstline centre has scored three of Calgary's seven goals in this tight-checking series.
Tyler Seguin spoiled Jacob Markstrom's shutout bid with a glove-side strike on the power play with five minutes to go, but Calgary's Mikael Backlund sealed the result with a late empty-netter. Markstrom finished with 34 saves.
LINE JUGGLING ... OR NOT
Flames coach Darryl Sutter nearly busted Twitter with his forward combos at Monday's morning skate in Dallas, where he had Andrew Mangiapane doing drills alongside Trevor Lewis and Milan Lucic.
Yeah, the guy who finished fourth on the team scoring charts this season working on the fourth line. There was an uproar from fans on social media as word spread that Brett Ritchie was skating in Mangiapane's usual spot on the second unit. As it turns out, it was much fuss about nothing. Mangiapane, a topsix forward staple during a 35-goal, 55-point campaign, was back with Mikael Backlund and Tyler Toffoli during pre-game warm-ups.
Ritchie wasn't even in the lineup. The Flames instead dressed seven defencemen, with Michael Stone suiting up for the first time in this series.
AROUND THE BOARDS
It was bombs away for Stone, who fired eight shots on net in 10 minutes of ice time.
That's especially impressive when you consider this series has been a block party for the Stars. The 31-year-old Stone, armed with one of the NHL's hardest slappers, had only one attempt that didn't get through to the goalie . ... Gaudreau was slow to get up after a first-period hit by Vladislav Namestnikov, who was dinged with a minor penalty for an illegal check to the head.
Gaudreau briefly disappeared to the locker-room but soon returned and was buzzing for the rest of the night . ... Rick Bowness, now bench boss for the Stars, was tutoring the defencemen in Vancouver when a raw rearguard named Chris Tanev first arrived at the big-league level.
“Bones was awesome for me,” Tanev said before Game 4. “He just used to throw me out there. I was 20 or 21 and (Pavel) Datsyuk is coming down and he'd be like, `Get out there. Go. You gotta learn to play against these guys at some point, so you might as well do it now.' And that sort of stuck with me for my whole career. If I did something wrong or something that I needed to improve on, he'd go over it and that was that. And then he'd throw you right back out there.”
OFF THE GLASS
The NHL is set Tuesday to reveal the hat trick of nominees for the Vezina Trophy, and it's been reported that Markstrom will be among that final three.
The Flames' stalwart certainly deserves a nod — he ranked among the league leaders with 37 wins, a 2.22 goals-against average and .922 save percentage and was tops on the circuit with nine shutouts . ...
The Flames' farm-clubbers open their Calder Cup quest Tuesday.
The Stockton Heat face the Bakersfield Condors — the top affiliate for the Edmonton Oilers — in the first full round of the American Hockey League playoffs.