Flames roast Red Wings 6-3

 Jaromir Jagr #68, Brett Kulak #61 and teammates of the Calgary Flames celebrate a goal against the Detroit Red Wings during an NHL game on November 9, 2017 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Flames had all the right stuff to get ahead of the Red Wings Thursday night. Johnny Gaudreau scored two on the night that assisted in their 6-3 win over Detroit at the Saddledome. Jaromir Jagr scored his first goal on his ninth NHL team that clearly had his teammates on the mark to get a key victory to end the week.

The Red Wings western road trip through Canada has been good so far with just one more in play before heading back to Detroit. They pulled off a strong win with everyone in play to beat the Vancouver Canucks Monday. Their two-game victory with contributions from both Mrazek and Jimmy Howard have paid off showing good performances from the two. The Czech netminder hoped for another shutout like he earned against the Oilers Saturday but he had a Flames team with Jagr in the lineup amping not only his line mates but the squad as a whole. They went 3-1-0 in their last four in the wishes to keep the winning side larger on the record.

They came out trying to give Detroit a big challenge in the opening minutes. They found themselves with a chance on the power play but a huge save from Mrazek already showed that he was ready for the Flames. Detroit almost had their opening goal but Mike Smith stopped the puck from sliding across the goal line to make the important save. Calgary still found ways of push Detroit into pressure and got lucky with a run by Jagr who took a shot on Mrazek for the save. The rebound bounced off the front of his body that Mark Jankowski got a piece of, scoring his first NHL goal.

With six minutes to go in the period, the Flames made it 2-0 with a quick response on the faceoff in the Red Wings end. It was a win of the puck that got to Gaudreau who got to the slot quickly scoring his fifth of the year. It was the 12^th shot they got on Mrazek that indicated Detroit’s inability to push back as hard as they were getting it. By the time the horn sounded, Calgary had taken 15 shots on goal and made a huge statement to Detroit that it wasn’t going to be an easy night.

Turnovers were still a big problem for the Red Wings making them seriously vulnerable in the second period. An opportunity to get the puck out of their zone failed with a giveaway at the blue line that later set up Michael Ferland with a deked shot on Mrazek for his sixth and a 3-0 lead. Detroit was still in trouble as the Flames started gained breakaways with Mrazek in trouble.

The Red Wings got a big to change the tide of their opponents doing so on a power play. A full team effort from the unit ended with Martin Frk scoring right near Smith to get his sixth ending the offensive rush. The Red Wings used their newfound power to spend plenty of time in the Flames zone where they were creating shots at Smith to get back into contention with time on the clock.

The Flames got things back going their way as a shot from the far end by ended on the stick of Matt Tkachuk who was called for goaltender interference but was waved off by officials making it a good goal and his fourth. With the margin back to three for Calgary, the Red Wings had a lot to be concerned out giving the Flames a lot of room to dictate the pace. The notion was taken by Detroit as they made a shot at getting the margin cut in half. Anthony Mantha got the opportunity started with a pass to Frans Nielsen who delivered a one timer for his sixth.

The Flames made them pay returning the margin back to three goals with Jagr scoring his very first goal with Calgary. The play mirrored much like Detroit’s with Gaudreau setting up the Czech legend with the one timer on Mrazek. Detroit was adamant about cutting down Calgary’s goal lead and did it in the final seconds with Mantha coming up big with his scoring chance. The second year forward notched his eighth on a rebound from Jonathan Ericsson’s shot that got them back within two. Six goals were scored in the second period with Detroit showing good reason to battle back outshooting the Flames 21-10 with twenty minutes left to level the score.

They got a power play two minutes in that really increased the level of competition in their lines. They committed to pressuring Smith where they had some close chances of getting their fourth of the night. Giving the Flames a man advantage wasn’t what they needed as the momentum once again shifted away from them. The Flames kept the pace to take the Red Wings out of contention where there attempts to get into position were foiled by Calgary.

They too took a lot of time on the clock and added another goal to secure their ultimate victory. It came on Gaudreau’s second of the night that left two 2:23 left and a clear path to ended Detroit’s short winning streak. Smith did a lot for the Flames to maintain stability in his team stay ahead of Detroit despite their forceful moments.

He made 39 stops on the night for a .929 save percentage for his ninth of the season. Mrazek’s lack of support in front of him jumped his goals against average a few ticks with just 28 saves and an .848 percentage. He and Detroit would get a chance to work out the kinks before they hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets on Veteran’s Day Saturday.