The Calgary Flames. Will. Not. Quit.
They beat the San Jose Sharks in a come-from-behind 3-2 victory
on Monday night in the shark tank.
Here are my three takeaways from the game:
1) Comeback from an atrocious 40 minutes
We’re always told “it’s not how you start, but it’s how you
finish.”
Well, the Flames may have gotten that memo.
In the first period, San Jose outshot Calgary 18 to 8. The
final shot for the home-side resulted in ice-breaking goal.
By the end of the second period, the Sharks had blocked shooting
lanes on the Flames to a point that San Jose players had registered 12 blocks,
while Calgary had eight.
The tide turned in the third period where in a span of 7:18
minutes, the Flames scored three unanswered goals and never looked back.
Absolutely brilliant stuff.
2)
Special teams showed up
I mentioned in my preview article that after the 0-for-4
showing against Vegas, the Flames power play had to make an emphatic comeback.
Well… nothing better than scoring the go-ahead goal off the man-advantage.
The penalty kill was as great as expected going 2-for-3, although
understandably, the 4 vs 6 situation at the end was never going to end well for
the Flames.
3)
Dustin Wolf proves he is the REAL Calder
Trophy favorite
We sound like a broken record at this point, but when Wolf
earns his second consecutive First-Star award in a row, can you blame us? He was
pelted with 31 shots, including four coming from current rookie of the year
favorite Macklin Celebrini. The first-overall pick from last year had an Expected Goal value of 0.49 (highest on the team) against Wolf, but was
ultimately stonewalled by the California kid.
The Flames gathered two valuable points in their pursuit of
snatching the second wild-card spot from the Minnesota Wild, who had widened
the gap between themselves and Flames after their win on Sunday.
The two teams will get a chance to prove who is really deserving
of a playoff spot when they face off on Friday.
But before then, the Calgary Flames will stay in sunny
California to play the Anaheim Ducks at 10:00 MDT/8:00 EDT on Wednesday.
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