Flames kick off 2024 with a much-needed win to start a four-game road trip
Even with the Minnesota Wild missing two of their best offensive players, the Calgary Flames needed a top-shelf performance from goaltender Jacob Markstrom to earn their 3-1 road victory Tuesday night.
Markstrom stopped 28 shots — 17 of them in the third period while his team held a lead — to claim his team’s second consecutive victory.
In six starts since returning from a broken finger, Markstrom has posted a 4-2-0 record and surrendered 11 goals, having stopped 162 of 173 shots — a .936 save percentage.
His play early in the game allowed the Flames to find their footing and stake a 2-0 lead on goals by Andrew Mangiapane and Jonathan Huberdeau (wonder what the parlay on that bet would have paid?).
Then, with Calgary holding a 2-1 lead going into the third period, he couldn’t be beat. Shots at the midway point were 15-1 for the Wild en route to Markstrom’s 17-save final frame against a Wild squad without Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello among a few other players.
To their credit, the Flames were the better team over the final 10 minutes and sealed the game with Blake Coleman’s empty-net goal — his team-leading 14th of the campaign.
Now, three more thoughts as the Flames (16-16-5) return to .500 on the season and have three more tilts on this road trip.
Building momentum
The embattled duo of Huberdeau and Mangiapane were tasked to build off strong performances on New Year’s Eve.
Mission accomplished in Minny.
Huberdeau snapped his 18-game goal drought after Mangiapane opened the scoring with his first goal in nine outings.
“It felt good,” Huberdeau told the media. “It’s been a while and I think lately, we’ve been playing better, so it was good to get chemistry on that line, too. That one obviously felt good and to finish it off with a win.”
Go fourth and prosper
It would be easy to lose in the win, but Calgary’s fourth-line of Adam Ruzicka, A.J. Greer and Dillon Dube had a noticeable impact on the clash.
Prior to Mangiapane’s goal that opened the scoring, that trio created a boost of energy with a fantastic shift.
When the buzzer sounded, the Ruzicka-Greer-Dube trio finished 11-1 in Corsi and 8-0 in scoring chances for/against according to naturalstattrick.com.
Ruzicka and Dube have been struggling offensively, but more performances like that and they will make an impact on the scoresheet.
Around the block
When the dust settled, Chris Tanev finished with five blocked shots, MacKenzie Weegar had four as did Rasmus Andersson, including an old-school pad-stack style in the middle of the third period.
The Flames may be shy on offensive talent to be a playoff squad, but you can not overlook the willingness of this squad to give its best.
QUICK HITS: The Flames led after the first period for only the seventh time of the season and led through two periods for only the ninth time … Calgary never trailed in the game, which has happened in four of its past five victories (all recorded in the past seven games). Prior to those seven games, the Flames trailed at some point in 15 consecutive games and 25 of 26 outings … Coleman’s 14th goal of the season has him on pace to obliterate his career high of 22 in 2018-19, his second full season in the league.