The Calgary Flames played seven games of what amounted to hockey chess against Dallas in the first round. It was tight-checking, it featured excellent goaltending, and both sides probably wished they scored more goals. (Especially Dallas.) Game 1 of the Battle of Alberta couldn’t have been more different than the Dallas series, with 15 goals between the teams, some porous defensive play on both sides, and every goaltender involved in the game likely wishing they were anywhere else.
The Flames won Game 1 by a 9-6 score. Here are five takeaways from the proceedings.
The Flames carried possession
The puck possession in Game 1 wasn’t as one-sided as it was in chunks of the Dallas series, but the Flames led in basically every shot metric at five-on-five (via Natural Stat Trick): 63.