Flames Drop Road Final to Canucks

“I liked the effort. Not the result,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska said after the game. “But for 60 minutes the effort was there for us, I felt. We made three mistakes as we rushed back to our area; we lost people. And then one, the turnover, but other than those mistakes, I really liked what we did tonight.

“I thought we were competitive. All the lines were part of tonight.”

The home team broke the ice with a goal 1:28 into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.

Short-handed, the Canucks opened the scoring when defenseman Tyler Myers found space on the right wing before sending a low shot to Markstrom's blocker.

Nils Hoaglander extended the lead with 6:32 left in the stanza, scoring his 24th goal of the campaign off a cross from teammate Elias Pettersson.

The Flames had opportunities to deal with Demko, notably Andrey Kuzmenko, who shut down Demko's post on the Calgary powerplay.

Canucks goaltender Nazem Kadri also saved a shot from the right wing, as well as a tough one-timer by Rasmus Andersson at the buzzer.

After 20 minutes, the shots were 12-9 in favor of Vancouver.

Dakota Joshua extended the Canucks' lead 1:58 into the second period with a shot from the right rim.

Calgary pressed, outscoring Vancouver 15-10 in the middle frame, but the Flames couldn't solve Demko.

They came close on a chance by Martin Pospisil, who hit a light, no-stick shot past the Vancouver goalie in right field from the bottom of the left circle just over three and a half minutes into the game. Kadri was also caught late in the frame on Calgary's second powerplay of the evening on a low slot feed from Huberdeau.

The Flames kept the pressure on Demko to start the third – inches from getting on the scoreboard when Huberdeau poked the puck through the legs of the Canucks goaltender, only for Vancouver captain Quinn Hughes to rip the loose puck off the goal line.

At the other end, Markstrom denied Joshua on a partial break, then parried Hoaglander's shot to keep the score even.

Pachal finally put the visitors back on top with just over nine minutes remaining, firing a long-range shot over Demko's left shoulder for his first goal since arriving in Calgary in February.