PENTICTON – Dustin Wolf was stellar between the pipes for the Flames making 34 saves but Calgary fell 3-0 to the Vancouver Canucks in their opening game of the Young Stars Classic.
The Canucks scored twice in the third period and added an empty-netter.
“He was real sharp tonight,” said head coach Mitch Love of his goalie. “He saw a lot of rubber, much more than I would have liked him to have seen.
“But again, he was a guy that’s calm, cool, collected back there and made the saves he needed to and you know, we gotta get a few goals for him.”
Forward Walker Duehrwho had a front-row seat to Wolf’s stellar play in the AHL last season, echoed his coach.
“Wolfie was Wolfie,” he said. “You know he’s always going to make saves in net for us back there and we can’t rely on him that much. But we have to start putting some goals in for him, but Wolfie was Wolfie, and he was excellent again tonight.”
The Flames now have a quick turnaround when they face the Oilers Saturday night.
“It’s a learning experience and that’s what this event is about,” said Love. “It’s good hockey, good hockey players out there on both sides. You know, we’ll learn from that tonight and we’ll go through some things tomorrow and get ready for another tilt against Edmonton.”
FIRST PERIOD:
The Flames started the line of Jakob Pelletier, Cole Schwindt and Duehr, with Jeremy Poirier and Ilya Solovyov on the blueline.
Wolf was called upon early, making two saves on Max Namestnikov who was parked on the doorstep.
Not long after, Calgary got the first powerplay of the contest Jack Beck getting a good shot on Arturs Silovs through traffic but the Canucks netminder flashed the leather.
The Flames then got another big stop later from Wolf who turned aside a dangerous tight-in tip from Michael Regush.
Big Adam Klapka and Connor Zary both had long stints with the puck as Calgary hemmed Vancouver in their zone. The 6-foot-8 Klapka showed off his hands and skating ability, setting up shop behind the net and buying time to look for an open pass.
With 3:46 to go in the opening frame the Canucks went to the PP but the best chance came courtesy of a shorthanded 2-on-1, Duehr getting a shot on net and Zary getting a piece of the rebound but unable to convert.
Vancouver held a 9-8 edge in shots after 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD:
Wolf picked up where he left off, stopping Linus Karlsson’s breakaway shot early in the frame.
But Silovs was also sharp, stopping Beck’s one-timer from the slot.
The Canucks went back on the powerplay and it was Pelletier who generated a great chance when he lifted the stick of Arshdeep Bains and skated in alone but couldn’t beat Silovs.
Vancouver got another powerplay followed by a man-up for Calgary. Canucks forward Chase Wouters – who had been in the bin – came out of the box on a 3-on-1 and rang one off the far post.
THIRD PERIOD:
Wouters stepped into a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle and Wolf made the save but Bains banged home the rebound on Vancouver’s 31st shot of the night.
Tristen Nielsen would get a backhand up-and-over Wolf with 2:06 left in the frame and Karlsson added the empty-netter.
THEY SAID IT:
Video: “It’s good hockey players out there on both sides”
Video: “We’ll learn from tonight”
Video: “All of us aren’t happy with the result here”
THE LINEUP:
Trios and D-pairs to start the game:
Forwards
Jakob Pelletier – Cole Schwindt – Walker Duehr
Mathias Emilio Pettersen – Connor Zary – Adam Klapka
Jack Beck – Rory Kerins – Lucas Ciona
Cole Huckins / Evan Boucher – Ilya Nikolaev – Lucas Feuk / Cooper Walker
Defense
Ilya Solovyov – Jeremie Poirier
Cole Jordan – Yan Kuznetsov
Simon Lavigne – Chris Sedoff
Jake Lee – Rhett Rhinehart
Goalie
Dustin Wolf
UP NEXT:
It’s a little Battle of Alberta action in BC as the Flames take on the Oilers Saturday night at 8:30 MTN. They don’t play Sunday and will finish off the three-game tourney against the Jets on Monday at noon MTN. You can watch livestreams of both games on the Flames website.
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