On Wednesday night, we saw the struggling Calgary Flames face a red-hot Columbus Blue Jackets team that had won four of its last five games entering play at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Before the puck dropped, the Flames took a moment to honour Nazem Kadri, who suited up to play his 1,000th career game in the NHL.
Game Recap
Coming off the celebration for Kadri, the Flames came out hot, opening the scoring 56 seconds into the game on a goal from Morgan Frost, where he deflected a Jonathan Huberdeau point shot into the back of the net for his third goal of the season.
Shortly after, Blake Coleman finished off a flurry of chances by beating Jet Greaves under the pad on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle. Coleman’s sixth of the season gave the Flames a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.
The final goal of the first frame came less than seven minutes in when the Blue Jackets got back within one goal on Kirill Marchenko’s sixth of the season, as he got loose behind the Flames’ defense while killing a penalty for the shorthanded breakaway goal.
After taking the one-goal lead into the first intermission, the Flames got back to extending it in the second period. Seven minutes in, Kadri put his fourth of the season in the back of the net, scoring in front of his friends and family after being set up by Joel Farabee on a two-on-one rush.
Following that, for the second time in the game, the Flames scored back-to-back goals within a minute. Right after Farabee and Kadri used a pass to beat Greaves on a two-on-one, Klapka beat him clean with a wrist shot as he went in on Greaves and one Blue Jackets defender, with Yegor Sharangovich supporting him.
The Flames carried this 4-1 lead into the second intermission. This allowed the Flames to cruise to victory in the final frame with Dustin Wolf slamming the door, making 22 saves in the period and 42 on the night. Mikael Backlund closed out the 5-1 victory for the Flames, adding an empty net goal with just under a minute to play in the game.
These two inter-coference opponents will close out their season series early in the new calendar year. Before that, the Flames will look to extend their first winning streak of the season to three on Friday night against the Chicago Blackhawks, while the Blue Jackets head further west for a matchup with the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
