The Utah Mammoth beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Wednesday evening in Salt Lake City, giving the Flames their fourth consecutive defeat.
Let’s take a look at the takeaways:
Calgary did not get a shot on goal in the game until during their first power play at the 7:25 mark of the first period. By that time, Utah already had four shots on goal. But the second shot by the Flames 1:10 later found the back of the net, recording a power play goal for Rasmus Andersson.
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While the shots on goal were 10-5 favoring Utah, the score line still read 1-0 Calgary at the first break.
The second period, however, was a nightmare.
The Mammoth outshot the Flames 38-11 in total shots in the second period with 18-3 in shots on goal, primarily due to the fact that Calgary were on the penalty-kill for 6:01. Unfortunately, two of those Utah shots ended up in the back of the net, putting the home side up 2-1 by the second intermission.
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The Flames did outshoot the Mammoth 12-4 on the net in the final period, but Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka absolutely stonewalled the Calgary skaters.
Here’s the bright side: Calgary did not give up any power play goals.
They were 6-for-6 on the PK. They are now 17-of-20 in the season which is outstanding stuff.
In his Flames debut, despite the loss, you couldn’t have asked for anything more from the 28-year-old.
Out of all of Utah’s scoring chances (31), almost half of them (14) came from their six power plays, so it was no walk in the park for Cooley.
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He ended his night with 29 saves off 31 shots for a save percentage of 0.935.
Some of the other things I liked was the Flames winning the faceoff battle 29-of-52 (55.8%) which was a big issue coming in.
Joel Farabee topped the forwards in minutes and tied his career-best in shots on goal in a game with four.
Kevin Bahl took three blocks to prevent any more Utah goals.
But the fact remains: Calgary needs to break their losing streak.
They will now travel to Sin City to take on the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.