The Calgary Flames entered Wednesday night riding a 10-game winning streak, but all good things must come to an end.
The Boston Bruins put an end to the Flames’ winning ways with an impressive 5-2 victory at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Boston’s offense turned in a terrific performance, as it received goals from three different lines. David Pastrnak opened the scoring for Boston, followed by tallies from Brad Marchand, David Backes and Matt Beleskey.
B’s goaltender Anton Khudobin was solid getting the start for Tuukka Rask, as he turned away 21 of 23 shot attempts.
The Bruins have won four games in a row, and continue to chip away at the Atlantic Division standings.
With the win, Boston improves to 38-26-6, while Calgary drops to 39-27-4.
Here’s how it all went down.
OLD FRIENDS
For several Flames players, Wednesday night’s contest was a matchup against their former team. Calgary’s defense is littered with former Bruins, including Dougie Hamilton, Matt Bartkowski and Dennis Wideman. Flames netminder Chad Johnson also had a brief stint in Boston, as he backed up Tuukka Rask for the 2013-14 season.
FLAMES OPEN SCORING, B’S ANSWER
The Flames entered Wednesday as the hottest team in the NHL, and their solid play showed itself early. Just over nine minutes into the first period, Calgary opened the scoring thanks to Alex Chiasson, who managed to sneak the puck past Khudobin.
The B’s had an answer for the Flames just over two minutes later. Following a great offensive rush, Pastrnak evened the score at one, beating Johnson through the five-hole. The goal extended his point streak to 10 games.
Boston’s high spirits were short-lived, though. After chasing a puck into the corner, Backes caught an edge on the ice and crashed into the boards head first. He appeared to twist his left leg on the play and was helped off the ice by Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron before heading back to the locker room.
WACKY GOALS
The Bruins capitalized on a costly mistake from Johnson early in the second frame. After Colin Miller dumped the puck into the Flames’ zone, Johnson was unable to contain it, which Marchand made him pay for. The Bruins winger gained possession and netted his 36th goal of the season, giving the B’s the lead.
With the score, Marchand jumped ahead of Sidney Crosby as the NHL’s leading goal scorer.
Just over a minute later, Calgary responded with a bizarre goal of its own. After skating past the red line, Hamilton fired the puck into the Bruins zone, which somehow found its way past Khudobin and into the Boston net, evening the score at two.
After being assisted off the ice in the first period, Backes returned to action at the 12:30 mark of the second frame. He’d make his presence felt fairly quickly, as he ripped a wrist shot past Johnson off of a feed from David Krejci, giving Boston a one-goal edge.
STRONG FINISH
Calgary shot itself in the foot to end the second period, as Mikael Backlund committed a foolish hooking penalty during the waning moments of the frame. The Bruins opened up the third period on the power play, and although they didn’t score, the man advantage allowed them to gain offensive momentum.
Under four minutes into the third period, the Flames’ defense was noticeably sluggish, which the Bruins took full advantage of. Ryan Spooner and Beleskey entered the offensive zone on a favorable 2-on-1 situation, and Beleskey finished off the play, giving the B’s a two-goal advantage.
Calgary had its chances in the final frame, including a power-play opportunity, but the B’s defense stood tall. Pastrnak sealed the victory with an empty-net tally, his 30th goal of the season.
UP NEXT
The Bruins will be right back at it Thursday night when they take on the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. Puck drop is set for 9 p.m. ET
Thumbnail photo via Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports Images
