Flames fall short against the Canucks

On the very next shift, the Canucks added to their lead. The Flames’ defenders seemed a bit unsure of what lanes to be blocking, and their confusion led to a really nice passing sequence, ending with Nils Hoglander firing an Elias Pettersson pass past Markstrom to make it 2-0 Canucks.

First period shots were 12-9 Canucks (10-9 Canucks at five-on-five) and, via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 11-4 Canucks (high-dangers were 6-0 Canucks).

The Canucks added another goal early in the second period. Oliver Kylington pinched in from the point in the offensive zone but Connor Zary didn’t circle back to cover the point quickly enough. The Canucks caused a turnover and it led to an odd-man rush defended by Andersson. Dakota Joshua opted to shoot, beating Markstrom to make it 3-0 Canucks.

Second period shots were 15-10 Flames (14-8 Flames at five-on-five) and five-on-five scoring chances were 10-7 Canucks (high-dangers were 3-1 Canucks).

Midway through the third period, the Flames managed to spoil Thatcher Demko’s shutout bid. The Canucks had a power play but didn’t do much with it. On the shift following the Canucks advantage, the Flames stacked up bodies in front of Demko and Brayden Pachal fired a point shot past Demko to cut the Canucks’ lead to 3-1.

But as regulation time dwindled down, Pius Suter poke-checked the puck off Nazem Kadri’s stick in the neutral zone. J.T. Miller grabbed the loose puck, skated in alone against Markstrom and beat the netminder to give the Canucks a 4-1 edge.

The Canucks held on for the victory.

Why the Flames lost

What’s the saying? They are who we thought they were. The Flames entered the game 17 points out of a playoff spot. The Canucks entered the game trying to clinch a Pacific Division regular season crown. The Flames looked fairly spotty defensively, which you would expect after trading away three regulars in-season, and they really couldn’t generate very much offensively against the pace and structure of the Canucks.

Give the Flames credit, though: despite being out-matched, they definitely weren’t embarrassed.

Red Warrior

Let’s give it to Markstrom. Yeah, he gave up four goals, but the goals he gave up were on really good scoring chances, and he had to be really sharp to keep this game somewhat close for the road side.

Turning point

Giving up two goals against, in the span of just 89 seconds, on the road, against a top team – especially one of them a shorthanded goal – is not a recipe for success.

This and that

The Flames rotated Adam Klapka and Ilya Solovyov into the lineup, bumping Nikita Okhotiuk and Walker Duehr to the press box.

This was Oliver Kylington’s 200th NHL game.

Up next

The Flames (37-39-5) are headed home. They’ll finish off their 2023-24 season on Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks.