Calgary Flames wear out Avs in 5-3 finish

The storyline for tonight’s game is there. Two Western conference juggernauts. Head of the Pacific Division and the leaders of the Central meet again after a historic offseason. The reigning Stanley Cup Champions and the host of a blockbuster trade filled with big-name acquisitions, departures, and Nazem Kadri’s free-agency landing place.

Have I oversold it? Maybe. It came on the heels of a back-to-back home opener. Colorado toppled an ailing Chicago Blackhawks team 5-2. A rested Calgary team opened their regular season after last playing an exhibition game on October 7th.

The man slated to be the starting goaltender for the year, Alexandar Georgiev, had the night off and Pavel Francouz was given the go-ahead. For Francouz, his ability to hold it down against a strong Calgary team would be significant in his bid to share the net this season.

On Calgary’s side of things, we knew this was a team that looked excellent on paper. Loaded with new offensive weapons in 115-point Jonathan Huberdeau and a beloved competitor, Nazem Kadri, as well as a buttoned-up blueline with a healthy Chris Tanev and new arrival, Mackenzie Weegar. Not to mention a strong third pairing made up of Nikita Zadorov, a punishing player whom Colorado knows well.

First Period:

Less than two minutes in, Josh Manson and Dillon Dube engaged in some shenanigans and both teams went 4-on-4. Devon Toews angled the puck up ice to a skating Bowen Byram. He had the puck poked away for a second, but stayed with it. Byram fished it back from Rasmus Andersson’s legs and whacked it in.

Calgary continued to apply pressure. The Avs withstood it, but got a little too casual. There was a near goal, but a heroic Toews came to Francouz’s aid to get the puck out of the crease as the Flames swarmed.

At 11:23 into the first, Colorado skated back into their zone after a fresh change. Calgary had the jump and Milan Lucic set up the play from behind the goal line. Alex Newhook, anticipating more of a battle, pulled up to confront and left the passing lane open – Brett Ritchie was exposed. Ritchie sent it into an open net, Francouz attempted to go post to post but couldn’t seal it fast enough.

Colorado got out of the first period relatively unscathed all things considered. Calgary was dominating possession, generating significantly more high danger chances, and winning the faceoff battles. Their saving grace was solid defensive play particularly on the penalty kill. The Avs killed two minor penalties with two key PK’ers in the box each time (first, Logan O’Connor and then Cale Makar). Some of the second kill carried over into the next period.

Second Period:

Nathan MacKinnon drew a holding call less than a minute in. The powerplay got to work and what should have been a standard Toews shot rimmed up and around the boards became a nightmare. Mikko Rantanen meant to collect it as it dropped, but it dribbled past him. He looked lethargic as Andrew Mangiapane poked it up and out. Newhook attempted to retrieve it, but he blew a tire. Dube and Mangiapane challenged Toews in a 2-on-1, and Dube beat Francouz cleanly.

Some more shenanigans after the whistle led to two matching minors for MacKinnon and Mikael Backlund and an additional given to Andersson who teamed up on him. An unsettling theme emerged, just as the powerplay expired Andersson exited the box and skated to a puck launched into the neutral zone from Calgary. A Rodrigues shot was blocked on the ending powerplay and Calgary took advantage. In all alone on Francouz, Andersson bested him at 14:52.

The period ended and Erik Johnson was flagged for cross-checking Kadri into Francouz at the crease. Colorado would start the period a man-down again. Colorado regained some footing compared to their first period, but costly errors hurt them. They looked like a team that wasn’t taking Calgary seriously enough at every moment, and the Flames were capitalizing on it.

Third Period:

Just as they looked as if they had regained some footing, the ice tilted in favor of Calgary even more. At 1:12, Calgary’s Tyler Toffoli redirected Kadri’s shot from the right circle and in. To add insult to injury, Makar took a high-sticking call on the play and Colorado stayed on the kill.

Lukas Sedlak got his stick out to break up the pass and accidentally sent it right to Huberdeau. Francouz committed to the left side to respond to the threat of Huberdeau and exposed the right side to a ready Elias Lindholm who sent it in.

Less than a minute later, Francouz played the puck behind the net and fired it to Mackinnon who was already prepared to exit. Heroically on the breakaway, MacKinnon nailed it top shelf and helped cut the deficit to 2-5.

It just wasn’t enough. MacKinnon, after all, is just one man. At 9:25, Calgary took a bench minor penalty for too many men on the ice. Nichushkin impressively established this play. He passed the puck to Rantanen from the right circle. Rantanen was waiting behind the goal line and sent it back to Nichushkin who skated to the top of the crease and tapped it in. It was a goal to make the game look better to scoreboard watchers around the league, but those of us who watched it live know better.

Calgary won the game 5-3.

Observations:

Colorado felt like a team that didn’t meet Calgary with the respect they deserved at every moment and the Flames preyed on this.

• Protect the house: The inner-thirds of the ice were just too readily available to a hungry Calgary team. They played inside the hashmarks and capitalized on their time spent there. I won’t attribute to any one player either. Colorado’s d-corps was caught watching the play unfold and forwards looking to defend experienced mental lapses, sometimes overcommitting to one threat only to leave another exposed. I can live with mental errors so long as they get worked out. Game 2 on the second leg of a back to back is the perfect time to learn. Burn the tape on this one? Absolutely not. Use it.

• Alex Newhook: The young, second line center hasn’t lifted off yet. Tonight was a tough showing. He was caught on the wrong end of several plays (or Blake Coleman’s stick). I felt his effort was there, but the decision-making was novice – like what you’d expect of budding player in his sophomore year. He has the mental maturity of a much older player, but these games have revealed the parts of his game that are reasonably raw. We were told he would get a fair amount of runway to live up to the responsibility of 2C, and I’m still counting on that.

Colorado looked tired at points. They will not have that excuse with three upcoming days off ahead of their road game against the Minnesota Wild on Monday. We can glean a little more from their response in that game.