May 20, 2021 / 258 Comments / Sports

Aside from draft positioning, Wednesday afternoon’s game between the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks had very little at stake. Both teams were playing for pride and the Flames looked fresher, more energetic and more motivated. The Flames skated to a 6-2 win over the Canucks to close out their 2020-21 season.

The rundown

The Flames opened the scoring midway through the first period. After a successful penalty kill, the Flames made a nice push offensively. Johnny Gaudreau attempted a wrap-around that didn’t quite go the way he envisioned, but Matthew Tkachuk buried his pass to make it 1-0 Flames.

Johnny + Chucky = pic.twitter.com/pa8LoF4Ae3

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) May 19, 2021

A nice pass from Brett Ritchie sprang Dillon Dube into the Canucks zone all alone, and he beat Braden Holtby five-hole to give Calgary a 2-0 edge.

5⃣-hole. pic.twitter.com/q39CfJWf91

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) May 19, 2021

Andrew Mangiapane jammed in a rebound off an initial shot from Mikael Backlund to make it 3-0 Flames.

Baking pic.twitter.com/vPWT9Uo8kv

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) May 19, 2021

Shots were 9-5 Flames and scoring chances 10-5 Flames in the first period.

Ritchie made it 4-0 Flames early in the second period, as the Canucks left him all alone in the slot for a pass from Derek Ryan.

Wide open. pic.twitter.com/IK2kSo982M

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) May 19, 2021

The Canucks got on the board a little later, as Bo Horvat scored a power play goal in the slot and 58 seconds later J.T. Miller redirected a Brock Boeser shot past Jacob Markstrom to cut the lead to 4-2.

But Tkachuk scored his second of the game off a rush, burying a nice pass from Gaudreau to make it 5-2.

Beats him clean. pic.twitter.com/BRq6rK9Htj

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) May 19, 2021

Backlund had a goal late in the second period disallowed after a coach’s challenge due to off-sides. Shots were 10-10 and scoring chances 10-9 Flames in second period.

Connor Mackey scored his first career NHL goal after jumping into the rush and redirecting a feed from Ritchie at the far post to give the Flames a 6-2 lead.

Shots were 9-6 Flames and scoring chances 10-4 Flames in the third period.

Why the Flames won

The Flames got out-scored on special teams, but otherwise they were energetic, composed, and just eager to play this game. (It might help that they had a bunch of young guys in their lineup who injected their group with some jump.) But even Calgary’s vets looked strong, with the top line of Gaudreau, Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm playing quite well.

The Flames best players were better than Vancouver’s best players. Their depth players were also better than Vancouver’s, which is why this was a very one-sided affair.

Red Warrior

It’s a joint award to Ritchie and Ryan, who each had three points on the afternoon.

The turning point

Honestly, the entire first period. The Canucks seemed out of their element and the Flames scored early, often, and just out-worked the visitors. They never looked back from there.

The numbers

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Percentage stats are 5v5.

Corsi
For%
O-Zone
Face-Off%
Game
Score
Dube
85.7
n/a
3.120
Tanev
81.8
61.5
4.590
Mackey
72.7
50.0
3.060
Giordano
72.0
57.1
3.080
Stone
68.0
44.4
1.780
Lindholm
63.6
62.5
0.760
Ruzicka
62.5
75.0
0.400
Tkachuk
59.3
50.0
2.920
Phillips
57.9
50.0
0.620
Ryan
57.1
40.0
3.720
Lucic
57.1
60.0
0.270
Ritchie
55.0
60.0
3.790
Mangiapane
52.9
63.6
2.700
Gaudreau
50.0
44.4
1.950
Nordstrom
41.2
57.1
1.380
Backlund
36.8
50.0
2.350
Valimaki
29.0
57.1
0.550
Andersson
25.8
57.1
-0.420
Markstrom
—
—
-0.070
Domingue
—
—
—

This and that

This was Matthew Phillips’ NHL debut!

Dube left the game in the second period after getting tangled up with Travis Hamonic. He didn’t return to the game.

Up next

The Flames (26-27-3) have completed their season schedule. Locker clear-out day is Thursday, at which point the off-season finally begins.

258 thoughts on “Post-Game: Flames trounce Canucks in the finale”

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