The Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 in Abbotsford, BC in NHL preseason action.
This group of players did not consist of the veterans or star players that played the night before and it showed.
The first period started off poorly as the Canucks scored two goals by the first 7:12. Calgary couldn’t get shots on target, looked messy and by the end of the first period, Vancouver outshot Calgary 9-4.
The Flames did come back in the second period strongly. However, a foolish roughing penalty by Joel Hanley at the 12:42 mark put the Canucks on the power play for the third time in the game. Filip Chytil would proceed to score a mere 25 seconds later, putting Vancouver up 3-0. At the 14:02 mark, the Flames would get some relief as the home team was called for a penalty for too many men. Connor Zary scored on the ensuing power play, reducing Calgary’s deficit by two.
Vancouver kept pressing hard on gas pedal in the third and there was no coming back for Calgary.
The Canucks outshot the Flames in every period. The overall was 30-19.
The defensive pairings looked disoriented and not in quality shape. I will add Etienne Morin stood out amongst the blueliners.
Vancouver skaters pressured Calgary into producing giveaways and the home side capitalized on the opportunities. The Canucks were more aggressive and played more physical.
It didn’t help that Vancouver fill-in goalie Nikita Tolopilo absolutely robbed Calgary of a goal with a terrific save in the middle of the third period that drew audible “Ooohs” from the crowd.
Coming into this game, the Flames were 7-for-7 on the penalty-kill and that became their undoing. They conceded two power play goals, ultimately going 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.
As mentioned earlier, Zary scored Calgary’s only goal, going 1-for-5 in the Flames power play.
Calgary goalie Ivan Prosvetov made 27 saves, registering a save percentage of exactly 0.900.
Chytil was designated player of the game for his two points.
The Flames next preseason game will be on Saturday against the Jets in Winnipeg.
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