MacKenzie Weegar nets 18th, Flames score three powerplay goals to beat Kings 4-2
The Calgary Flames sure looked like they had plenty to play for on Saturday night.
Despite the clock ticking down on their season, and their playoff fate all but sealed, the Flames put up one of their best performances of the year in a game against one of the Western Conference’s current wildcard teams.
Although the narrative around the Flames has been how imminent their elimination is, they looked capable against the Los Angeles Kings in a fairly dominant 4-2 win at the Saddledome on the late slot of Hockey Night in Canada.
On the heels of another big performance by MacKenzie Weeger, some timely stops by goaltender Jacob Markstrom, and a potent powerplay featuring goals by Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman and Weegar, the Flames snapped a five-game losing skid in fine fashion.
Kadri opened the scoring in the first five minutes on the man-advantage.
They gave up the lead less than a minute later when Adrian Kempe scored on a Kings powerplay to tie things up, but rookie Martin Pospisil tipped in the go-ahead goal just after the midway point of the first period and the Flames never looked back.
Coleman made it 3-1 in the second half of the middle frame. Anze Kopitar closed the gap — on the powerplay again — in the dying minutes.
But in typical Flames fashion this season, they were at their best in the third, with Weegar’s 18th goal of the season the only one of the third period.
The Flames finished with 35 shots and allowed just 18 against. At one point of the contest, Weegar had more blocks than Markstrom had saves. And that’s not a dig on Markstrom’s performance.
The Calgary Flames embraced the role of spoilers, and looked good doing it.
