Written by It’s February and the idea of “I can’t believe how many games we have left!” has been replaced with, “We only have how many games left?!” It’s a push to the playoffs in both the Mass Selects and Granite State Leagues. Sunday morning the Flames played yet another important GSL game, this time at Skate 3 vs. Nashua II. The Flames are battling to stay in the top 6 slots and earn a playoff bid, and Nashua II (Pro Ambitions 2001 Elite Team) is right there too, battling for the same spots. The Flames beat this club back in November by a score of 4-2 but the game was even closer than that. Sunday’s game was nothing short of a playoff type battle where intensity and physicality reigned supreme. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, and both teams probably felt like they could have earned two points instead of the one.
1st Period: I know that tracking shots on goal isn’t a perfect science, at least for me, but this game was deceiving to track. The Flames got the majority of the shots in this game, but Nashua seemed to have the puck more often than the Flames. In any event, the Flames had 9 shots to Nashua’s 3 in the first period, but trailed 1-0, after one period. Nashua scored on a breakaway after a Flame defender fell down, and two more Flames collided. The Flames had good shots, point blank shots, but could not score. Their shots on net came one at a time, not in bunches with good puck possession like we’ve seen so often.
2nd Period: The second period was more intense than the first. There were six penalties called and a couple of goals scored, with the Flames earning another advantage in shots. After the Flames killed off a penalty, they earned a power play with some good hard skating. The Flames quickly capitalized with a power play goal scored by Wil Hebert, his 17th of the season. Brendan Courtney shot a puck towards the net that missed but was fed around behind the net by Kyle O’Flaherty and onto the stick of Hebert who scored the goal to tie the game. The game was tied for exactly 12 seconds. Off of the face-off at center ice, Nashua took possession of the puck and entered the offensive zone along the left-wing boards. There ensued a scrum for the puck and Nashua won the puck, firing it toward net. Goaltender, Keenan Alnahas, probably would like this one back as his reaction made it look like he thought the puck was going harmlessly wide. At the last second he flashed his left pad out, and made the save, but the puck got under his pad and was headed over the goal line. A Nashua forward had hustled to the crease and made sure that the puck, the pad, and his stick all went into the net and just like that, the Flames trailed 2-1. The Flames took two penalties shortly after the goal and were forced to kill a 5-on-3 disadvantage, which they did. Late in the period it was Nashua’s turn to take penalties, and the Flames had a 5-on-3 advantage of their own, but did nothing with it. The period ended with the Flames down 2-1.
3rd Period: Both teams clamped down on defense in the third period. There were fewer shots, and scoring chances had to be earned. Nashua had all the chances early but never could get the puck and an open skater to the front of the net at the same time. Half way through the period Sean Moore tied the game on his 17th goal, a goal that wasn’t dissimilar to the second Nashua goal. The puck was loose out front and he kept driving his legs, body, and stick to the net while inching the puck closer, until it was in the net. The play had been set in motion when Sam Hebert made a nice pass out of the defensive end to Zachary Bayer who raced up ice to get a good shot on goal. The save was made but Moore was there to put the rebound in the net. Then with 3:03 to play Bayer had another chance up the left side and let a shot go towards the net. Sebastian Beal got his stick on the puck and deflected it past the goaltender, but squarely off of the post. No goal. The Flames did manage to get some offensive possession late in the game but could not connect on a clean shot or look at the net. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, with both teams earning a point in the standings.
On Tap: Tuesday, Feb. 5 @ Northern Cyclones, 5:20pm in Cyclones Arena, Hudson, NH. The Cyclones lead the standings with a record of 13-0-1, and have already clinched the #1 seed. The Flames lost 1-0 to the Cyclones back in October.