Matt Coronato gave Calgary the early edge, but Vancouver owned the third period and turned a rugged, physical game into a 4-1 win over the Flames on Saturday at Rogers Arena.
The Flames struck first on a power play in the opening frame, with Coronato cashing in to put Calgary ahead. That lead held until the final period, when the Canucks flipped the game with four goals and buried the visitors after a tense, chippy first 40 minutes.
The temperature was high almost from the opening puck drop. Less than three minutes into the first period, Adam Klapka and Luke Schenn dropped the gloves in the Vancouver zone, with Klapka landing several rights in a spirited fight against the veteran defender. The scrappiness carried through the rest of the night, with scrums breaking out in front of both nets and Schenn and Klapka nearly renewing things late in the second period after a heated exchange in front of the Calgary bench.
Calgary still carried a 1-0 lead into the third, but the momentum swung quickly. Just 88 seconds into the final frame, Devin Cooley appeared to smother a rebound off the stick of Vancouver’s Liam Ohgren, lunging back toward his goal line as the original ruling on the ice was no goal.
After a review from the Situation Room in Toronto, that call was overturned and the Canucks were awarded the tying goal. The puck was judged to have crossed the line, with the white webbing in Cooley’s catching glove helping make the difference on review.
Afterward, Cooley pointed to the glove itself.
"I was like, 'What if I have black netting and black colouring on the glove?'" Cooley wondered post-game. "That might make a difference.
"I don't know, I might try that out."
The loss still included a few individual bright spots for Calgary. Zayne Parekh and Joel Farabee each picked up an assist for their first points of the season, while Cooley stopped 23 shots in his first appearance of the year. Zach Whitecloud blocked five shots to lead the Flames, and Maxim Tsyplakov finished with a team-high six hits.
By the numbers, the Canucks had the edge in the places that mattered once the game opened up. Vancouver outshot Calgary 27-24, controlled 5-on-5 chances 25-17, and held the advantage in high-danger looks at 9-6.
Calgary won the faceoff battle at 52.6 percent and finished with 28 hits to Vancouver’s 24, while both clubs were nearly even in blocked shots. The Flames went 1-for-2 on the power play, and the Canucks were shut out on five chances.
Calgary’s forward groups featured Matvei Gridin with Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato, Sam Honzek with Mikael Backlund and Joel Farabee, Brennan Othmann with Ryan Strome and Yegor Sharangovich, and Maxim Tsyplakov with Martin Pospisil and Adam Klapka. On defense, the pairings were Joel Hanley with Simon Nemec, Kevin Bahl with Zach Whitecloud, and Jake Middleton with Zayne Parekh, with Cooley starting in goal and Dustin Wolf backing him up.
In Other News...
Flames Loss In Vancouver Exposed A Familiar Problem Again
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Canucks Suddenly Have A Goalie Decision They Did Not Expect
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The bigger question now is what happens when Demko is ready to return. Vancouver will have to sort through its goalie picture at a time when Merilinen has made a strong early case to stay in the mix, and that kind of unexpected depth can quickly turn into a roster puzzle. For a team that had been watching him since the summer, the timing has only made the conversation more complicated. [Read more 🡒]