FLAMES FALL TO CANUCKS

The Flames finished off a four-game set with the Canucks Wednesday night, falling 5-1 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The prior three games - in which the Flames went 2-1 - were all in Vancouver.
The Canucks jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period and then scored twice in the final 1:30 of the second period en route to the victory.

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Mikael Backlund returned to the lineup after missing Tuesday's 4-3 overtime win against the Canucks with a lower-body injury.
That led to a rejig of personnel for the tilt (see The Lineup below), which included Brett Ritchie drawing in to play his first game as a Flame.
Ritchie ended up playing with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan for a good portion of the evening.
On his first shift of the game, he made his presence known by laying a big hit on Olli Juolevi behind the Vancouver net.
The Canucks opened the scoring just 1:46 in after a Calgary turnover, Bo Horvat feeding Jordie Benn on a 2-on-1, the defenceman snapping a shot that went above the pad and under the glove of Jacob Markstrom.
The Flames had some good cracks to knot it up in the first.
The aforementioned Ritchie burst in on a partial brekaway but Braden Holtby got a piece of the shot with his glove.
Then it was Milan Lucic who stepped into big Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers behind the net, getting the puck and driving out but unable to jam the puck home.
There was a wild sequence early in the second period, as Tanner Pearson was chasing a loose puck for a breakaway and Markstrom came out to try and play it, the two meeting head-on halfway to the Flames blueline, the Canucks forward flipping in the air over top the Calgary 'tender before landing hard on the ice.
The Canucks made it 2-0 later on a similar play, Markstrom not able to win a footrace to a puck and Horvat grabbing it and skating around him to throw it into an open net at 7:37.
Johnny Gaudreau - the current Flames leader in goals with nine season and the OT hero Monday - got the puck at the side of the Canucks net but his backhand attempt from a great spot looked to be tipped over the Vancouver net.
At the other end, Elias Pettersson snapped a puck off the post looking to add to the lead.
Andrew Mangiapane got the Flames on the board 18:13, Mark Giordano's long stretch pass to him tipped by Benn, but the Fames forward able to scoop it up and cut hard across the net and wrap it around the right pad of a laid out Holtby.

But then the Canucks scored twice - J.T. Miller just 15 seconds later, and then Nate Schmidt at 19:05 - to head into the intermission up by three.
Brock Boeser scored at 5:34 of the third off a rush with a wrist shot that went high far-side on Markstrom.
David Rittich came in with 12:13 left to relieve Markstrom.

THEY SAID IT:

Giordano on loss:
"Pretty frustrating game. I thought, again, we didn't have the start that we wanted. The first five minutes, I didn't think we were sharp. When we got the game to 2-1 in the second, I really thought if we could get through the period at that score or better, we were going to have a good night. But they got it back on the very next shift and then got another one. It's pretty tough to swallow those ones at the end there."

Ritchie on the night:
"Obviously, it's been a while and you never know exactly how that's going to feel. But I had a game plan and wanted to keep it simple early. I had an opportunity to play with (Gaudreau and Monahan) and I've played with some skilled guys before, so you want to get the puck to those guys, head to the net and cause some chaos. Sometimes, you can get a bounce. We had some looks, along with some other lines tonight. Could have changed the tide a little bit, but we just couldn't bury them. It was one of those nights."

THE LINEUP:

\To start the game
Lines
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Dominik Simon
Matthew Tkachuk - Elias Lindholm - Andrew Mangiapane
Milan Lucic - Mikael Backlund - Dillon Dube
Joakim Nordstrom - Sam Bennett - Brett Ritchie
D-Pairings
Mark Giordano - Juuso Valimaki
Noah Hanifin - Chris Tanev
Nikita Nesterov - Rasmus Andersson
Goaltenders
Jacob Markstrom - starter*
David Rittich

UP NEXT:

With four games against the Canucks in the rearview mirror, the Flames now turn their sights to a home-and-home with the Oilers that starts Friday at the Scotibank Saddledome (7 p.m.; TV: Sporsnet 1; Radio: Sportsnet 960 The FAN) and concludes up the QEII at Rogers Place on Saturday (8 p.m.; TV: HNIC; Radio: Sportsnet 960 The FAN).