Utah HC Defeat Flames 5-3

We saw the Calgary Flames host the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night. Two teams trending in opposite directions entered play on Thursday, with the Flames winning three of their previous four games and Utah losing five straight. This would be the second matchup of the season between these two teams. Utah dominated the first game 5-1, but tonight’s matchup proved much more competitive despite Utah moving to 2-0-0 over the Flames this season.

Game Recap

Before the game, news broke that Utah, who had a flu bug in their dressing room, would be without Matias Maccelli. This caused Liam O’Brien to slot in on Utah’s struggling third line. But he provided a spark, and they would open the scoring on Lawson Crouse‘s first goal since Nov. 29, eight minutes into the game.

The rest of the period would be reasonably uneventful until late, when Utah was caught with too many men on the ice. The Flames would capitalize on the ensuing powerplay when Blake Coleman whacked a rebound past Karel Vejmelka to tie the game 1-1 with less than a minute to go in the first frame.

The second period is when the game started to heat up. Seven penalties would be called in the period, including two 10-minute misconducts, one to Utah’s Liam O’Brien and one to Nazem Kadri on the Flames. Then, three minors were called on Utah, and two against the Flames. Utah would take the 2-1 lead on one of their powerplay attempts. Logan Cooley finished the goal after great passing plays from Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther. Calgary scored two unanswered to take a 3-2 lead into the second intermission. These goals came from Connor Zary and Brayden Pachal at five-on-five seven minutes apart after Utah scored six minutes into the period.

Utah did not play from behind long in the third period. Keller got his second point of the night on a goal that tied the game 37 seconds in, and then Crouse got his second of the game and gave Utah the 4-3 lead. Utah would add one more goal late on an empty netter from Kevin Stenlund.

Utah wound up snapping their five-game losing streak with this win and moved within three points of the Flames for the second Western Conference wild-card playoff spot. The game’s three stars were Crouse with his two goals, Coleman with a goal and an assist in the loss and Keller, who had himself a two-point night. These two teams will close out their season’s series with what could be a pivotal matchup for playoff position in early April.