The Calgary Flames had a game defined by speed, physicality and general peskiness in the qualifying round. Those qualities persisted in a back-and-forth Game 1 against the Dallas Stars to begin the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Flames ground out a 3-2 victory over Dallas to take a 1-0 series lead.
The Rundown
The Flames looked superb in the first period. They skated well. They fore-checked. They hit. They generated a lot of offensive zone time. And they were rewarded.
Midway through the first period, Matthew Tkachuk drew penalty in the neutral zone. On the resulting power play, Milan Lucic sent a gorgeous pass across the zone for Dillon Dube, whose one-timer off the rush beat Anton Khudobin to make it 1-0 Flames.