On Sunday afternoon the Calgary Flames trounced the New York Islanders in what was their seventh consecutive win.
The Flames came out firing and had a ton of chances early but Thomas Greiss was able to temporarily keep them off the board. It felt a little bit like Greiss, who has been strong for the Isles this season, was going to steal the game -- or at least keep the Islanders in it. That changed in a hurry.
Following a barrage of chances, Michael Frolik was able to convert on a bad angle shot to get the party started.
Frolik's 14th of the year after they shelled the Islanders pic.twitter.com/vWEHhz7eRe
— FlamesNation (@FlamesNation) March 5, 2017
The wheels completely fell off for the Islanders after the opening goal as the Flames went on to score three more in the final five minutes, giving them a 4-0 lead heading into the 1st intermission.
The Flames were completely deserving of such a commanding lead, too. Against an Islanders team fighting for their playoff lives the Flames piled up 34 shot attempts, 21 shots on goal, and 17 scoring chances in the 1st period. They were truly dominant.
Calgary was outplayed a little bit in the final 40 minutes but that's to be expected. Not very often do teams control play while up four goals. Intentional or not, teams often sit back, play a conservative brand of hockey and focus more on getting pucks in deep than actually making plays when they have it.
The Isles were able to get a couple goals past Brian Elliott in the final 40 minutes but the game was never close. Speaking of Elliott, he quietly had another strong showing stopping 33-35 (.943SV%) in the win. This was the fifth consecutive game he allowed two or fewer goals and the eighth time he has done so in his last nine starts. The Flames finally gave him some rope to work with and he's rewarded them with fantastic goaltending.
With Elliott back on track, the Flames are firing on all cylinders and showing no signs of weakness. They're not a team I'd want to face come playoff time.
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