Calgary finishes off a back-to-back with a stop in the Big Apple (5 p.m. MT/Sportsnet West)
There’s a reason they call them special teams.
And they proved to be the deciding factor Monday night when the Flames fell 6-2 to the Maple Leafs in Toronto to open this four-game road swing.
The homeside went a perfect three-for-three on the powerplay – converting the trio in the second period – and held the Flames without a goal on four man-up chances.
“The penalties that we took, for me,” said Head Coach Ryan Huska. “That was one of the number-one keys, you don’t want to give them opportunities. I think in the second period we took some poor penalties – three of them – and our penalty-kill was not sharp tonight.
“At the end of the day, I think that was – for me – the difference in the game. I didn’t mind a lot of our game 5-on-5, I thought there some things there that we can build off of. But the penalties put us in a bad spot.”
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This is the second and final meeting of the season for these two clubs, with the Flames skating to a 3-2 victory back on Nov. 21 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Matt Coronato, Yegor Sharangovich and Connor Zary scored for Calgary, while Dustin Wolf got the victory between the pipes with 27 saves. Will Cuylle and Alexis Lafreniere scored the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin made a whopping 46 saves.
See the action from Monday night’s tilt against the Leafs
Also yesterday, we released an Extended Trailer for The Chase, Episode 8 – check it out below.
Part 1 of Episode 8 premieres on Monday, March 24!
The Blueshirts started off this four-game homestand with a 3-1 loss to the Oilers on Sunday.
That left them clinging to the second Eastern Conference Wild Card spot with 72 points (33-29-6), just one clear of the Montreal Canadiens, but having played two more games than the Habs.
They are 4-4-2 in their last 10, and 16-15-3 at the fabled Madison Square Garden this season.
Edmonton’s Corey Perry scored the first period’s only goal Sunday, but Will Cuylle would knot things up after 40 minutes.
Viktor Arvidsson and Connor McDavid would tally in the third period for the visitors.
Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves in the loss.
“I thought it was a tight hockey game, a good hockey game going into the third period,” New York coach Peter Laviolette told NHL.com‘s David Satriano. “They scored one. We pressured, we had lots of chances, lots of look, couldn’t get the next one to fall.”
Artemi Panarin extended his point streak to nine games (six goals, seven assists) with a helper on Cuylle’s goal.
“I thought our energy was good despite the back to back, but we need wins at this time of year, especially, so there’s no moral victories but we just got to turn the page and get ready for the next one,” Cuylle said.
The Flames (30-25-11) have 71 points and remain two points behind the Vancouver Canucks (31-25-11) for the second Western Conference Wild Card berth, but have a game in hand.
The St. Louis Blues (33-28-7) also 73 points but have played two more games than the Flames, while the Utah Hockey Club has 71 points but have played one additional game more than Calgary.
Back-to-Backs
The Flames are set to finish off their ninth back-to-back set tonight in Toronto following last night’s setback in Toronto. Calgary has a record of 5-4-0 in the first game of back-to-back scenarios, and a record of 2-5-1 in Game 2 of back-to-back scenarios. The Flames next back-to-back set will come on March 31 when they travel to Colorado before heading to Utah the following night on April 1.
Big Night For Sharky
Yegor Sharangovich appeared in his 300th NHL game in Calgary and New York’s first matchup on Nov. 21. Sharangovich would score a goal and register an assist to record his-then 36th multi-point effort of his career. He became just the sixth skater of Belarussian decent to play in 300 or more NHL games, along with Ruslan Salei (917), Mikhail Grabovski (534), Andrei Kostitsyn (398), Sergei Kostitsyn (353), and Vladimir Tsyplakov (331).
Stick tap to Flames PR’s Jordan Bay for these tidbits
Flames – Jonathan Huberdeau
Picked up an assist – and it was a beauty – on Rasmus Andersson’s goal in Toronto. Check it out below. He has three goals and four points in his last four outings and leads the Flames with 50 points.
Andersson scores off incredible pass from Huberdeau
Rangers – Artemi Panarin
Leads New York in scoring with 72 points, 19 clear of relative newcomer J.T. Miller. He has a goal and four points in his last three games.
