On Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada, the Calgary Flames hosted the Vegas Golden Knights at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Related: Projected Lineups for Golden Knights vs Flames – 12/20/25
It was the second time these two teams had met this season, with the Golden Knights taking the first game 4-2 back in mid-October. This time, the Flames were coming in playing much better hockey, having won five of their last seven, while the Golden Knights were coming into Calgary on fire, having won six of eight, losing only in shootouts over that stretch.
Game Recap
Four minutes into the game, Flames’ captain Mikael Backlund set the tone for the game, finding a loose puck in front of the Golden Knights’ net, which he quickly fired past Akira Schmid for the first goal of the game.
They then took a two-goal lead when Adam Klapka deflected home a Yan Kuznetzov point shot just before the halfway mark of the second period.
However, the Golden Knights quickly responded, with Reilly Smith breaking free on a breakaway and beating Devin Cooley over the glove with a beautiful backhand shot from in tight right after the midway mark of the period.
To round out the first frame, Connor Zary gave the puck up to Ryan Lomberg, who capped off the two-on-zero break, beating Schmid on the blocker side to give the Flames a 3-1 lead going into the first break.
In the second, the Flames continued to build on their lead with Backlund getting his second of the game when MacKenzie Weegar found him on the doorstep nearing the halfway point of the game.
This was quickly followed by Weegar making a great defensive play, which sprung Joel Farabee for a short-handed break, who went on to beat his man one-on-one and put it over Schmid’s glove for the four-goal lead.
Before the second intermission, the Golden Knights got one back with Kaedan Korczak scoring on a wrist shot over Cooley’s blocker after jumping up in the rush, which led to the 5-2 score after 40 minutes.
The defensive play tightened up in the third. It was not until there were fewer than four minutes left in the period that Mark Stone got the Golden Knights back within two when he whacked a puck out of midair past Cooley.
The goal was too little too late, and the Flames would go on to close out the 6-3 victory, as Jonathan Huberdeau added an empty-netter with less than a minute left to ice the game.
The Golden Knights will be back in action on Sunday night against the Edmonton Oilers, while the Flames play their last game before Christmas against the Oilers on Tuesday, marking the first half of a home-and-home series.
