Calgary Flames

Joe Pavelski's first home playoff game for the Dallas Stars was a memorable one. The 37-year-old veteran scored both the equalizing and winning goals for ...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a surprise trip to Ukraine on Sunday amid the ongoing Russian invasion. She stops to appreciate the tiny balls of yellow feathers during her daily walks. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a surprise trip to Ukraine on Sunday amid the ongoing Russian invasion. But a CTVNews.ca analysis found backlogs, processing times and lack of communication are causing mounting frustrations among those seeking their Canadian dream. “The strength of our game is five-on-five and we spent too much time with ticky-tacky, four-on-four hockey.” Dallas and Calgary have played eight minutes of four-on-four in back-to-back games. Bowness was denied a challenge for goaltender interference by Lucic. 3 hr ago “There's a timing anticipating the shot. Nice to get that win and take another step.” “Hard-fought, close games,” said Flames head coach Darryl Sutter. “Breakaway with about two or three minutes left. Our guys were a little tight.

DALLAS — If the Calgary Flames could handpick a shooter for a late breakaway, this would have been the guy.

While Sutter is more than a bit busy, the 148th running would have been a good one to witness. “I think it’s more about just everyone digging a little deeper — those second and third efforts, more of that, and getting to the net and getting those greasy goals.” The Stockton Heat and Bakersfield Condors — the farm teams for the two Alberta-based squads — will face off in a best-of-five in the first full round of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs. Saturday’s first-period tussle with Tkachuk was his second fight of the week and his third in eight seasons in the NHL … Stars captain Jamie Benn was a physical force with a half-dozen hits … You won’t see Sean Monahan on the ice until next season, but the Flames’ longest-serving alternate captain travelled with the team to Dallas. He’ll be a behind-the-scenes supporter as he recovers from hip surgery … While fans are crossing their fingers for a long-overdue series between the Flames and provincial rival Edmonton Oilers, there will be a preview of sorts in the minors. The Flames were a perfect 10-for-10 on the penalty-kill in these playoffs before Pavelski’s winner on the power play … Sutter on Tkachuk’s hand: “He’s fine” … Jacob Markstrom’s best of several big saves in Calgary’s crease was a barrel roll to deny defenceman Miro Heiskanen, although Pavelski scored his first of the night on that same shift. Because the Pacific Division pennant-winners are now behind in this opening-round battle, left scratching to earn a split in Texas and turn this into a best-of-three. We have lots of guys that have been there and been in these situations. There’s not a lot of room,” said Lewis, who mans the middle on Calgary’s fourth unit. That was, in fact, his second of the evening. “We win one game, we get home ice back, and that was the goal coming in here. That won’t cut it … It was a painful first period for Gaudreau. He was cross-checked into the post by Luke Glendening and then stapled into the side-boards by Pavelski. The ending probably hurt more … You need your depth dudes to contribute in the playoffs and Lewis did just that, chopping a puck past Oettinger in the opening stanza. With a pivotal save, the breakout backstop preserved the victory.

Veteran Pavelski scored both the equalizing and winning goals as Stars take a 2-1 lead in playoff series.

“The strength of our game is five-on-five and we spent too much time with ticky-tacky, four-on-four hockey.” Dallas and Calgary have played eight minutes of four-on-four in back-to-back games. Bowness was denied a challenge for goaltender interference by Lucic. “There’s a timing anticipating the shot. “Hard-fought, close games,” said Flames head coach Darryl Sutter. “Breakaway with about two or three minutes left. Our guys were a little tight. Their job.” Nice to get that win and take another step.” The Flames were both more responsible with the puck and more of a match physically with the Stars in Game 2, but goals remained scarce in the post-season from a team that ranked sixth in the NHL in that department. “He’s always around the net. He knows there’s a timing to get there,” Stars head coach Rick Bowness said. Pavelski scored his second of the game and the first power-play goal of the series for the Stars – after going 0-for-11 – at 10:05 of the third period for the go-ahead goal.

Joe Pavelski scored twice and got the game-winner on the first power-play goal in the series for Dallas.

Calgary has scored just 3 goals in 3 games in a series they now trail 2-1. What will it take to get Johnny Gaudreau and company going?

He knows there’s a timing to get there, and there’s a timing anticipating the shot. The stuff after the whistles and stuff like that, we have to cut that out.” The Stars only scored once on the advantage, but still, this much special teams play can be disruptive to the flow of a game. Maybe because there have been a lot of extra curricular activities in the last few games. It probably lies in a combination of a few things: Ineffective entries, or passing, not executing the structure, not winning faceoffs in the o-zone, and not being able to finish the chances they do get. He has made some big saves in this series, such as the one on Gaudreau, but the Flames need to apply more pressure to test him with not just quantity, but quality. Well, there was some more of that on Saturday, particularly when it came to assignments in the defensive zone. And they aren’t consistently getting to the middle of the ice. The only team with a worse power play efficiency in the playoffs is the Florida Panthers, who have not scored a PP goal in their series. And it’s the key issue facing the team in this series. There were many reasons it was supposed to be difficult for any team to deal with the Flames in the postseason; Gaudreau and the top line are one of them. Of course, the line of Tkachuk, Lindholm and Gaudreau is a big part of the disappearing act.

And they are now a rough Game 4 away from being down 3-1 to Dallas. Be pretty rich for the team to waste 8 or 10 days against a wildcard team that almost faced ...

Andersson has become an essential key for this Flames team to work so he has to be at the top of his game every night. Today’s Specials – If they keep giving the Stars 4 power plays a game they’re going to get burned. DailyFaceoff has the tools you need for both daily and season-long fantasy leagues, including a lineup optimizer, daily projections, and a whole lot more. In The Crease – The busiest night for Markstrom so far – 2.21 expected goals against. Player Spotlight – Rasmus Andersson – He gets kicked out of Game 1 and then struggles in clutch moments in this game. So after two games of no chances from the slot both teams gave it up completely and it still resulted in a low scoring game. Trevor Lewis (2.20 // 0.28) and his goal led the way for the forward corps. It’s a Team Game – Another game that saw the Stars match Calgary shot for shot throughout the entire night. xGF% – The expected goals share is where you can see the main problem from this game – the top 4 defenceman failed to win their match-ups. Game Score – Erik Gudbranson (2.45 game // 0.55 average) led the way without getting any points – a testament to his strong defensive play in this match. They aren’t playing near the level they reached during the regular season and will need to find it in short order. It isn’t like the Stars are taking over either – they just have been more opportunistic.

Trevor Lewis and Elias Lindholm replied for the Flames with Jacob Markstrom turning away 28 of 31 shots in Calgary's net.

Lewis and Milan Lucic combined on Calgary’s first goal at 13:45 of the period. They tangled and took coincidental minors less than a minute into Game 2. His 14th career playoff game-winner is the most among active NHL players, according to the Stars. Pavelski scored his second of the game and the first power-play goal of the series for the Stars _ after going 0-for-11 _ at 10:05 of the third period for a 3-2 Stars lead. Game 4 in the best-of-seven affair is Monday in Dallas before returning to Calgary for Wednesday’s Game 5. Joe Pavelski scored twice, including the game-winner, for the Dallas Stars in Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames to take a 2-1 lead in their playoff series.

The Dallas Stars took another step with a Game 3 home victory on Saturday night against the Calgary Flames. They now lead the series 2-1.

We have such great fans and they turned it up even more tonight than the regular season obviously and I don’t think they realize how much that helps us and how much energy that gives us so we’re going to need them again on Monday.” “It is right where you want to be but obviously, they had a 2-1 lead on us in the bubble, so the series is far from over,” Jake Oettinger said. Sam also hosts his own podcast on Spotify, the “Slapshot Sammy’ podcast, breaking down action across the Stars, the NHL, and college hockey. Elite athletes have that innate ability to believe in themselves and rise to the occasion at the right time.” We have a ton of work to do and we put ourselves in a great position right now. Jake Oettinger also continued his dominance in the postseason, stopping 39 of 41 Calgary shots and moving his series save percentage to an elite .969 (stopped 93 of 96 total shots). Above all other saves, his late third-period stop on a Johnny Gaudreau breakaway was exactly the timely save the Stars needed to hold onto their one-goal lead and secure a victory on home ice. The war began just over one minute into the game when Matthew Tkachuk went after John Klingberg (surprise, I know). Klingberg has been a target for the Flames but the physicality did not stop with him. Arguably the most competitive series so far, the Stars and Flames have battled their way through really three one-goal games. With Jake, he was forced into a tough situation this year and it didn’t bother him, and now we’re throwing him in there in the playoffs, not bothering him. It was nice to get that win and take another step. “It’s another step, there was a lot of effort out there tonight, up and down the lineup. It was a competitive game, and our group was very completive.