It was a bittersweet night for rookie center Mark Jankowski.
Jankowski scored four times Jimmy Garoppolo Jersey , and the Calgary Flames finished off a disappointing season with a 7-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
”Not the way we wanted it to end, we want to keep on playing, but definitely a building year,” said the 23-year-old Jankowski, who had just three points in his previous 18 games. ”I just take everything I learned this year from all the vets and use that as fuel in the summer to come back into camp and even better player.”
Calgary entered the night in an offensive funk, having mustered only nine goals over the previous nine games, eight of them losses. The seven goals was the club’s biggest offensive outburst since a 7-4 victory over St. Louis on Nov. 13.
”It’s one of those things. Tonight, for some reason, everything bounced in and I think we could have had even more,” Flames captain Mark Giordano said. ”It’s nice to end it on that note, but it’s been a tough year and obviously a disappointing year.”
Before the game, players from both teams and the officials formed a circle at center ice for a moment of silence for the 15 people who lost their lives in the Humboldt Broncos bus accident.
”You have those guys, that community, the team Cheap Breeland Speaks Jersey , on your mind all day,” Giordano said. ”We’re one big community, the hockey community, there’s a lot of people feeling this one.”
Afterward, the Saddledome crowd broke into a chant of ”Broncos! Broncos!”
”We talked a lot to our guys about the emotion and the purity of the game,” Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. ”Just think about the young men on that bus, who would love to be in the seats that we are. That was their goal and we wanted to play as well as we can to honor that.”
Spencer Foo, Garnet Hathaway and Johnny Gaudreau also scored for the Flames (37-35-10), who missed the playoffs for the seventh time in the past nine seasons. A big factor was Calgary’s 17-20-4 home record, its worst mark since 2000-01.
Cody Eakin scored for Vegas (51-24-7), which finished first in the Pacific Division and will open the playoffs on home ice against Los Angeles. Vegas is the first modern-era expansion team in any of the four North America pro spots to win its division in its first season.
”Right from the start it’s been a fun season,” goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. ”It’s fun to be a part of this team and this organization through it all. I’m really proud of the way this team has done throughout the season. Playoffs are fun, intense, exciting. I’m looking forward to getting it going.”
Golden Knights veteran James Neal was impressed at how quickly the team gelled after being thrown together at the expansion draft.
”What impressed me most about our group is the consistency we played with Marquez Valdes-Scantling Jersey Packers , the way we rolled four lines, we counted on each player and needed each guy every night and every guy brought their game,” he said.
Down 3-0 after the first period, Vegas scored 51 seconds into the second. But the Flames responded with three more unanswered goals before the period ended.
Jankowski secured his first NHL hat trick with a short-handed goal at 18:06, bringing over 100 hats raining down onto the ice.
He completed the scoring at 1:32 of the third. It was Calgary’s first power-play goal in 14 games, snapping a 0-for-35 skid.
Jon Gillies had 26 stops for Calgary. Fleury gave up six goals on 18 shots before being replaced to start the third period. Malcolm Subban had 12 stops in relief.
NOTES: Both teams wore Humboldt Broncos decals on their helmet. The Flames also announced they were donating their $84,055 half of the 50/50 prize pot to those affected by Friday’s tragedy.
UP NEXT
Golden Knights: Face Los Angeles in the first round of the playoffs.
Flames: Offseason.
Rob Gronkowski gets to play in this year’s Super Bowl after missing last year’s game with a bad back. Zach Ertz gets the chance to match his wife, Julie , a soccer star who’s already won a world championship.
Super Bowl 52 could come down to which of these terrific tight ends shines brighter.
The two had similar statistics and impact on their team’s fortunes this season.
Gronkowski led the New England Patriots with 69 catches for 1,084 yards and eight touchdowns.
Ertz led the Philadelphia Eagles with 74 catches for 824 yards and eight TDs – double his previous career best.
Ertz also has 11 grabs for 125 yards in the playoffs and Gronkowski has seven catches for 102 yards and a touchdown in the playoffs despite missing most of the AFC championship against Jacksonville after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from Barry Church before halftime.
That led to concerns Gronkowski might miss his second straight Super Bowl. He was sidelined for last year’s 34-28 overtime win against Atlanta after undergoing back surgery.
Gronk, however, returned to practice Thursday and said he is ”ready to roll” after clearing the concussion protocol.
He said he never doubted he’d get to play Sunday.
”There was no reason to get frustrated,” Gronkowski said. ”We had that extra week, which was awesome.”
The return of the All-Pro tight end gives Tom Brady another key option against a punishing Eagles defense that ranked fourth in the league.
”He’s a dynamic player. He means a ton to our offense. He really has since he got to our team. It’s always great when he’s out there Buffalo Bills Jerseys Womens ,” Brady said.
”I’ve played with him a long time, I’ve thrown him a lot of footballs. He knows exactly what to do, he knows where to expect the ball, when to expect it. He’s just a tremendous player for our team.”
Ertz is just as important to Nick Foles and the Eagles’ offense.
The fifth-year pro made his first Pro Bowl this season, leading all NFC tight ends in receptions. He added eight catches for 93 yards in the NFC championship game against Minnesota.
Despite his breakout season and postseason, Ertz knows he won’t be the best tight end on the field Sunday. Gronkowski led all NFL tight ends in receiving yards for the fourth time.
Gronk is the gold standard.
”He’s a beast after the catch, I think that kind of separates him from all the other tight ends,” Ertz said. ”And he’s also able to be open even when he’s not open because he’s got such a big frame and extremely good ball skills. And obviously Tom Brady is a phenomenal quarterback, too, but even without Tom, I think he would still be doing the same type of things regardless of where he was.”
Ertz knows the numbers off the top of his head, too.
”He has all the (single season) tight end records in the league,” Ertz said. He’s got the yards – 1,327 – and he’s got the touchdowns – 17 – he’s just a phenomenal player.”
With a pair of Super Bowl rings.
That’s what Ertz really covets http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-will-hernandez-jersey , a world championship like the one his wife won in 2015 as a midfielder for the World Cup-winning U.S. national soccer team.
”Julie won a World Cup two years ago,” Ertz said, ”so I need to hold up my end of the bargain.”
The ”It” couple in the NFL was married last March after a romance that started when Julie, then Julie Johnston, was an emerging soccer star at Santa Clara and Zach was playing at Stanford.
The two were apart when the Eagles clinched their spot in the Super Bowl with a 38-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Julie was in San Diego for a national team match against Denmark. She was among the players who scored in the 5-1 victory.
Afterward, when she was told Zach was going to the Super Bowl, she burst into tears .
”Zach knew I was there obviously in spirit and I was praying for him and I was excited for him and cheering him from miles away,” she said.
”It’s a part of our job and we sacrifice a lot, and time’s the biggest thing. But to find out that they are going to the Super Bowl was amazing, exciting, emotional. It’s really cool to see your loved one’s hard work pay off.”
Ertz said it was hard for him watching other players’ celebrate with their wives ”but seeing that video kind of showed me that she was struggling not being there, too.
”And it was extremely difficult for us not being together like it is anytime we’re not together. But she’s here now, I’m lucky she’s here. I’m blessed that she’s here and I’m excited hopefully to be able to experience that again.”
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