|
 Luckily for the 18-year-old rookie, his teammate and fellow center
Mikael Backlund managed to snag the puck.
Bennett shoveled home a loose puck in the Vancouver crease 2:14 into
the third period, and the goal held up as the winner as the Flames
beat the Canucks 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in a first-round Western
Conference playoff series.
The Flames can take a stranglehold on the best-of-seven set with a
win in Game 4 on Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Game 5
is in Vancouver on Thursday night.
Left winger Brandon Bollig, defenseman T.J. Brodie and center Sean
Monahan also scored for the Flames, while the Canucks got their
goals from center Shawn Matthias and right winger Jannik Hansen in
what is so far a bitter series between the Canadian rivals.
Bennett -- in his fourth NHL game -- sent the sellout crowd into a
frenzy early in the third period, giving the Flames a 3-1 lead.
At 18 years, 303 days old, Bennett is the second-youngest player to
score an NHL playoff goal. The youngest is longtime Flames captain
Jarome Iginla, who debuted for the team in 1996.
"I couldn't have dreamt a better situation," said Bennett, who
missed the majority of the season with a shoulder injury. "I'm so
thankful for this.
"It's more relief. It's been a long year. These last couple games
have been a great experience. It's been great to get it out of the
way. I'm excited to keep playing."
The 2014 first-round draft pick (fourth overall) played just one
game in the regular season -- the finale against the Winnipeg Jets
-- but was inserted into the lineup for the postseason, and he
responded by driving hard to the net through the first three games
of the series.
As for the puck, Bennett said it will have a special place at home
in Ontario.
"I will probably give it to my mom," Bennett said. "She will
probably put it in my room somewhere."
The Canucks were not impressed with the rookie's exploits, and they
tried pounding him physically. In the second period, defenseman
Yannick Weber leveled the 18-year-old with an open-ice hit.
With less than six minutes left in the third period, Canucks
defenseman Dan Hamhuis hit Bennett hard in the head with his
shoulder as the rookie was coming around the net. Hamhuis was
penalized for the hit, and the Flames quickly capitalized as Monahan
scored on a five-on-three power play.
Just as in Game 2, the final minutes featured several fights, but
this time it was the Canucks instigating the rough stuff. Vancouver
defenseman Kevin Bieksa went after Flames winger Michael Ferland --
a thorn in the Canucks' side all series -- in the final minute as
tempers flared.
"Who suggested that? Them? I think he's pretty irrelevant so far,"
Bieksa said when asked if Ferland is under the Canucks' skin.
"We're a lot smarter team. We've been through this before. It's not
about pushing the other team around and out-hitting the other team.
That's not going to win the series in the long run. It's about
executing, making plays, controlling your emotions. We did an
excellent job of that last game. I don't think our emotions got the
best of us tonight, they scored more goals than we did."
In front of a jam-packed, enthusiastic crowd, 99 percent of which
wore red Flames jerseys, the home team got on the board first, and
it was an unlikely source for offense.
[to top of second column] |
The fourth line hemmed the Canucks in their own zone, and then left
winger Mason Raymond -- a scratch for Games 1 and 2 -- found Bollig
in the slot. Bollig rifled a shot glove side on Vancouver goalie
Eddie Lack to make it 1-0.
Bollig had just one goal in 62 games during the regular season.
"The players were walking in before the game and were already
commenting about the fans," Flames coach Bob Hartley said. "We were
in the locker room and could hear them chanting, 'Go Flames Go'. It
was unbelievable. We were already fired up in the room, and that
momentum really carried us."
Less than three minutes after the Flames opened the scoring, the
visitors swarmed the Calgary goal, getting several whacks at the
puck before Matthias hammered it home to tie the game at 1-1.
Brodie put the Flames up again, this time on a long blast from the
point at 15:02 of the first period. Brodie managed to get it through
traffic, and it eluded Lack because Bennett provided a great screen.
The Canucks didn't manage many other scoring chances though, and it
was the relentless Flames forecheck that helped keep the Vancouver
shooters at bay.
"We weren't clean enough on our breakouts," said center Henrik
Sedin, the Canucks' captain. "We didn't come back enough to give our
defense some options. That's something we did a good job of in the
first two games. We used their forecheck to our advantage, and
tonight we didn't do that."
After Bennett boosted the lead to 3-1 and Monahan made it 4-1, the
Canucks got their second of the night with 2:19 left. Hansen ripped
a shot over Hiller's shoulder on a great feed from center Bo Horvat.
Hiller and Lack each finished with 23 saves.
NOTES: The NHL handed Flames coach Bob Hartley a $50,000 fine for
his role in a line brawl with 1:17 left in Game 2 at Vancouver. With
Calgary down 4-1, Flames D Deryk Engelland tangled with Canucks RW
Derek Dorsett and D Dan Hamhuis at the same time during the melee.
On Sunday, Flames GM Brad Treliving reacted to the fine, saying he
supported the NHL's decision but questioned why his team was singled
out. ... Canucks prospects Mackenzie Stewart and Jake Virtanen took
in the morning skate at the Saddledome. Virtanen has helped his WHL
team, the Calgary Hitmen, reach the third round of the playoffs. ...
Sunday's game was the first playoff action at Scotiabank Saddledome
since April 27, 2009, when the Flames lost Game 6 in their
first-round series against the Chicago Blackhawks. The last time the
Canucks played in a playoff game in Calgary was April 19, 2004. They
lost that Game 7 in overtime on a goal by Martin Gelinas, who is now
an assistant coach for Calgary.
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