Saturday night brought us a clash between the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames on Hockey Night in Canada as the two teams met up at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Flames entered play after a win that snapped a three-game losing streak, while the Jets took the ice losers in four of their last five games.
Game Recap
Despite a fast-paced first period in which the Jets and Flames combined for 20 shots, Connor Hellebuyck and Dustin Wolf showed why they are regarded as two of the best goaltenders in the NHL, standing tall and keeping the first period scoreless despite some quality scoring chances in both directions.
However, the second period is when the game opened up. It started with Kyle Connor making a beautiful cross-ice pass to find a streaking Mark Scheifele, who made no mistake off the rush to open the scoring just over seven minutes into the second period.
The lead would not last long with the Flames responding less than a minute later on Jake Bean’s first goal of the season, which came on a point shot that redirected off a Jets player’s stick and over Hellebuyck’s shoulder.
This goal was answered almost immediately with Tanner Pearson picking up a loose puck off a blocked shot and ripping it past Wolf before he could pick up the bounce 30 seconds after the Flames’ goal to tie the game.
Staying with the theme of quick responses, the Flames tied the game at two, just over five minutes later, and with less than seven minutes left to play in the middle frame, on Kevin Bahl’s second of the season, coming on a rocket from the point.
This was the final goal of the second frame, and these two teams went into the second intermission tied. They continued to trade goals in the final frame with Cole Perfetti giving the Jets a 3-2 lead, wacking home a rebound that sat in Wolf’s crease after turning away a one-timer which came off of Connor’s stick.
Despite a couple of excellent saves on a late power play from Hellebuyck, Matthew Coronato tied the game with just over a minute to play, banging home a rebound on the man advantage, forcing overtime.
In the extra frame, Scheifele was called for a penalty late with just under two minutes to go. However, the Jets killed off the four-on-three and forced a shootout, where Gabriel Vilardi eventually scored the game-winning goal to seal the 4-3 victory.
The win closes out a six-game road trip for the Jets, and they will head back home for a three-game homestand that starts with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. The Flames will also play on Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks, beginning a stretch of seven of eight games on the road.
