The Calgary Flames defeated the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The series is tied at 1-1 with the Flames winning Game 1 and the Stars winning Game 2. Here is the recap of Game 3 between the Flames and Stars.
Calgary: Alan Quine, Buddy Robinson, Artyom Zagidulin, Michael Stone, Zac Rinaldo, Austin Czarnik, Byron Forese, Jon Gillies, Oliver Kylington, Alexander Yelesin
Dallas: Jake Oettinger, Joel Hanley, Stephen Johns, Gavin Bayreuther, Thomas Harley, Jason Robertson, Nick Caamano, Ty Dellandrea, Joel Kiviranta, Landon Bow, Justin Dowling
No goals were scored during this period but it was a battle of who could make the most of their opportunities. And, it seemed like the Flames were able to get the puck towards the net a bit more than the Stars. The Flames outshot the Stars 11-8 during this period.
The score was tied at zero heading into the second period.
The Stars were in full control of the period. They had all the momentum go their way but the Flames ended up scoring a goal. Flames forward Mikael Backlund scored shorthanded at the 14:02 mark in the period. For the Stars, they outshot the Flames again this period 16-4 yet they couldn’t capitalize on their scoring chances.
Calgary went into the third period with a 1-0 lead.
This period was a little more balanced but the Flames scored again from defenseman T.J. Brodie. Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin wanted the goal to be challenged since Flames forward Derek Ryan fell on top of him. However, the goal stood after the officials reviewed the play. The Stars came so close to getting the game closer when forward Tyler Seguin was left alone. But, Flames goaltender Cam Talbot made the huge stop on Seguin to keep the Stars scoreless.
Calgary won the game 2-0 and took the series lead 2-1.
Third Star: T.J. Brodie (1 goal)
Second Star: Mikael Backlund (1 goal)
First Star: Cam Talbot (35 saves)
Even when the Flames were practically outshot the entire game, they held their ground defensively and got Talbot his second shutout this postseason. Talbot also is the third goaltender to record multiple shutouts in a single postseason with the Flames. Miikka Kiprusoff (five shutouts in 2004) and Mike Vernon (three in 1989) are the other two goaltenders to achieve this goal. If the Flames can keep playing this style of hockey next game, they’ll have a good chance of moving on to the next round.
On the other hand, the Stars did everything right except score. The only reason why they weren’t on the board was because they couldn’t figure out Talbot. But, maybe this was a game that Talbot was just simply great at. Maybe next game Talbot won’t have this kind of performance. Either way, the Stars need to keep finding ways to get goals consistently throughout the game.
Game 4 of the Flames-Stars series is on Aug. 16 at 2:00 pm EST.
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