With real estate at a premium in the NHL playoff series between Calgary and Dallas, the Flames want more room to unlock their offense.
Calgary has fired 96 shots at Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger in the first three games with two even-strength goals and a power play goal to prove it.
The Stars lead the best-of-seven conference quarterfinals with a low score of 2-1 heading into Monday’s Game 4 at Dallas.
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Game 5 is Wednesday in Calgary. If necessary, Game 6 is Friday in Dallas and Game 7 would be back in Calgary on May 15.
The Flames opened the series with a 1-0 win and 2-0 loss at the Saddledome.
The keys to the Stars’ 4-2 victory Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Game 3 was scoring his first power play goal of the series, as well as scoring the first goal of the four-on-four game.
The Stars have rarely given up territory against Oettinger for Calgary forwards to threaten from close range.
The Flames felt they made some headway in that department on Saturday. So did the Stars at the Calgary end, though, and Dallas did better with a pair of Joe Pavelski rebounding goals.
“I think last game we took a step where we’re getting more shots and more action around his box,” Flames winger Matthew Tkachuk said.
“Just to do that early and get the lead, it looks like the team that gets the first goal that is playing with the lead has a very good chance of winning the game. I think the start is very important for us.”
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Both sides had four power play opportunities on Saturday. Calgary outshot Dallas 13-4 with a one-man lead, but the Stars converted one of their chances into Pavelski’s game-winning goal.
Flames head coach Darryl Sutter says it’s better to work on getting an extra foot or half foot around the net than a barrage of shots that Oettinger can track.
“Our accuracy and a lot of the things we do have to be better, our passing and around the net with the puck,” Sutter said. “One thing is to shoot and things like that, but another thing is to score and there is a difference.
“When you say that about the real estate part, that means things are happening faster or it’s harder to get there, which means you may have to do a better job with the record. It’s tight, yes.”
Led by goalkeeper Jacob Markstrom and a 1-for-11 penalty, the Flames haven’t given up much on their own side either.
But with three goals in three games, the canny 37-year-old Pavelski was able to find the quiet spaces on the ice that the Flames don’t have.
Markstrom has given Calgary a chance to win every game with a .942 save percentage. The NHL postseason debut of the unflappable 23-year-old Oettinger has been stellar.
“He is not scared at the moment. He is not afraid of the ball. He wants it,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said.
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“It’s been a fight out there. It’s been a great series, obviously a low scoring event. I don’t know how it looks on TV or Twitter. It can be boring as if we talk a lot here in Dallas, but we will win”.
Flames fans will bemoan that Johnny Gaudreau didn’t get the puck up high enough in a breakaway with 3 1/2 minutes remaining on Saturday.
“I tried to get him under the screener and on top of the bag, but I just couldn’t get him up,” Gaudreau said.
“I would like to score with two minutes to tie the game there, but I had a lot of chances last night with five, six shots. A couple of them were nice A-grade opportunities.
“I’m happy to get those looks and eventually I’ll find the net there, but you sure want that one back.”
Gaudreau’s top line, Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm, all 40-goal scorers in the regular season, mustered a combined 13 shots Saturday over Oettinger. The trio combined to score the first two goals of the Calgary series.
It was the Flames’ fourth row _ with the burly Milan Lucic creating front net traffic for Trevor Lewis _ that scored one of Calgary’s two goals so far in the series.
“Everybody always wants to talk about your scorers and that’s fine, but it has to be through your lineup,” Sutter said. “He just can’t be in a player, that’s for sure.”
The teams have played nearly 16 four-on-four minutes in Games 2 and 3. That doesn’t affect Calgary’s strengths, as the Flames ranked sixth in the NHL in five-on-five goals during the regular season.
“I think there are now seven in the series, which is really rare. It would take you 20 games to get as many four-on-fours in the regular season,” Sutter said, adding that he spoke with NHL director of officiating Stephen Walkom about it on Saturday morning.
“I think they can handle those situations and I think both teams would like to handle it better. The bottom line is, playoff time, if you’re there after the whistle, what is it for? So now there’s 10 guys in there and if they want to take two guys, if they want to do that, they’re just hurting the team.”
Stars captain Jamie Benn was fined $5,000 for hitting Andrew Mangiapane high in the second period on Saturday. No penalty was awarded on the play.
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