5 Things - Flames vs. Lightning

1. Last Time Out

In the end, the solo point was of little comfort.

In fact, through the eyes of shorthanded goalscorer Blake Coleman, it was a game they "should've" locked up long before the breakaway showcase.

But didn't.

Now, the Flames return home from a three-game getaway with two of a possible six points following back-to-back extra-time defeats – the first, a 6-5 overtime loss to the defending Cup champs, before dropping that crucial 3-2 decision in a shootout in their last outing, Thursday, to the Minnesota Wild.

"This was a good game. Probably for both sides, I would say," Head Coach Ryan Huska said of the shootout setback. "I thought we had a slow first 10 minutes but when I liked our game from that point forward. I felt like we deserved the extra point tonight."

Indeed, the Flames have little to hang their heads about when it comes to Thursday’s performance. They put up 37 shots – tied for the fourth-highest output of the campaign – and thoroughly took over the game after a sluggish opening frame.

Yegor Sharangovich had a goal and an assist to lead the way offensively, before notching a beauty in the skills contest to improve to 3-for-4 on the season in that department. Coleman had Calgary’s other marker in regulation, putting him only one goal shy (nine) of Sharangovich for the team lead.

Dan Vladar was stellar between the pipes, rejecting 30 shots in regulation and OT, before turning aside two of four in the shootout, including a spellbinding ‘scorpion’ save on Frederick Gaudreau.

But it wasn't enough, as Elias Lindholm, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri were all stopped by Filip Gustavsson.

"It was a tight-checking game," Coleman said. "They didn't give us much and their goalie played well when they needed him. We knew it was going to be one of those 2-1, 1-0, low-scoring, tight-checking road games - and that's what it was. You win that shootout, we're all feeling a little different right now."

This is the first of a two-game homestand for the Flames, who will host Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers on Monday, before rounding out the pre-holiday schedule with a pair in southern California, beginning on Thursday in Anaheim.

2. Know Your Enemy

Andrei Vasilevskiy has made a career of raising the bar. 

But even by his own impeccable standards, what unfolded on Thursday in the Alberta capital was positively blinding. 

The 29-year-old future Hall of Famer stopped a season-high 53 shots to help guide the Bolts to a 7-4 win, snapping Edmonton’s eight-game winning streak.

Steven Stamkos had his first-ever four-goal game to pace the visitors offensively, while the red-hot Nikita Kucherov tallied his 20th of the season, while adding a pair of helpers, to give him a stranglehold on the league scoring race. 

(His 50 points lead Canucks forward J.T. Miller by seven in only 30 games this year.)

With the win, the Lightning improve to 2-2-0 on their current five-game road trip. 

“He (Stamkos) looks at me after the fourth one and says, ‘First time ever,’” Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper told reporters after the game. “I was like, ‘You’ve got 500 (sic; 529) of them and that was the first time you’ve had four in a game?’ And he said, ‘Yeah,’ so we had a good little chuckle on the bench.

“But yeah, you need your big guys to come out when the game’s on the line, and ‘Vasy’ (Vasilevskiy) and ‘Stammer’ did that tonight.”

As impressive as the offensive accolades were, none of it would be possible without their play of their puck-stopper. 

The Oilers put up 90 shot attempts, 54 scoring chances and a retina-scorching 28 high-danger looks in all situations. 

All, season highs. 

In contrast, the Lightning had a scant eight chances from the house.

But the fact that the game tilted so heavily in the other direction on the scoreboard speaks to the elite talent the Bolts (still) have, even if their 14-12-5 record suggests a bit of a downturn. 

“Without him, that’s not even a game, so I think we give all the credit to ‘Vasy’ tonight,” Stamkos said. “Certainly not a recipe we want to have to rely on every night, but in a game like that when we don’t have our best and we’re playing a really good team that’s on a winning streak, to have him back there was obviously huge.

“He’s done it his whole life in the biggest moments too. You’re almost not surprised, (but) you should be because to play the way he did against the talent that’s on the other side tonight was, I think, even more impressive. He gave us a chance and we were opportunistic and buried our chances. We got a win. It wasn’t pretty, (but) we’ll certainly take it.”

3. This ‘n That

Red Hot Trio

The Nazem Kadri, Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil line is putting up staggering numbers for the Flames right now. Take a look at some of their advanced metrics as a unit, courtesy of Natural Stat Trick: Shot Attempts: 60.17% (139-92), 5-on-5 Scoring Chances: 61.32% (65-41), 5-on-5 High-Danger Chances: 69.05% (29-13), Goals For/Against: 5-1

Minute Muncher

Stud blueliner Victor Hedman (upper body, day-to-day) missed Thursday’s game against the Oilers. Will he be ready to return tonight?

Did You Know?

Dating back to the 2012-13 season, Jonathan Huberdeau has scored more points against the Bay Lightning that any other skater in the NHL, with 16 goals and 31 assists for 47 points in 44 games.

4. Quotable

Blake Coleman on Minnesota's quick response after he scored a shorthanded goal to put the Flames up 2-1:

"They had a pretty good surge - obviously, in their own building, and they're a good first-period team - so it wasn't a surprise. (Vladar) kept it to a one-goal lead and we were able to get one to tie it, (but) we've just got to find ways to get the lead again. They score a quick one and we've got to find ways to not have those quick responses on us after going up in games. It's another lead that we felt like we should have come out of here with two points.”

Head Coach Ryan Huska on Martin Pospisil playing the role of the 'pest' to perfection Thursday:

“I think to start the game, I don't know if we were engaged physically the way you need to be to win games. I thought there were some scrums. Marty (Pospisil), I thought, did a good job of kind of dragging people into the fight a little bit tonight and I think it helped get our game going.

“He's a competitive young man that just plays and plays hard, and sometimes he gets under the skin of his opponent. But that's what makes him who he is.”

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Yegor Sharangovich

Is there an echo in here?

The man they call ‘Sharky’ has been getting plenty of love in this section over the past few games, but there is no one more deserving right now.

Sharangovich has eight goals in his last 14 games – tied for second in the NHL since Nov. 18. He's on a four-game goal streak, has five in that span, 10 on the year (along with eight helpers) and is an absolute terror in the shootout, scoring again in Saint Paul with that sensational move and patented, bar-down snipe of his.

Lightning - Brayden Point

The Calgary native has 13 goals after putting up a career-high 51 lamp-lighters a year ago. While Kucherov – and most recently, Stamkos – have been getting all the headlines, Point remains one of the fastest and most gifted offensive players in the game today.

And as for the aforementioned local ties? As a youngster, Point played for the Calgary Bisons and Calgary Buffaloes before moving onto the Canmore Eagles of the AJHL, followed by the Moose Jaw Warriors, a club he would captain for two seasons in the WHL.