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There weren’t a tonne of things that the Calgary Flames did right.
Make no mistake, though, the Flames’ special teams were the biggest issue on Monday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Everything else was secondary to a brutal night on both the penalty-kill and power-play.
“Special teams, it’s as easy as that,” Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson said when he was asked by reporters where the 6-2 loss to the Leafs got away from his team. “Special teams, we absolutely s— the bed tonight.”
The numbers back that up.
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The Flames had four power-plays and didn’t score a single time.
They also took three penalties, and the Leafs capitalized on each and every opportunity.
Sometimes, these things don’t require any super deep analysis. No team is going to win hockey games with those special teams stats.
“This game came down to special teams and we just weren’t good tonight,” Andersson told reporters. “We take a penalty, they score. We take a penalty, they score. We take a penalty, they score. You can’t beat this team with I don’t even know how many penalties we had, but I don’t even know if we killed off a single one. You can’t beat this team when your PK doesn’t show up.”
Were special teams the only issue? No. The Flames goaltenders couldn’t bail them out like they’ve done so many times this year. The relentless forecheck that has kept them in contention through 66 games just wasn’t there.
But the turning point of the game came when the Flames had a power-play goal overturned because video replay showed they’d been offside early in the second period. Over that 20 minutes, Nazem Kadri and Brayden Pachal both took penalties and the Flames were assessed another for having too many men on the ice.
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The Leafs buried on all three of their power-plays, and that was that.
“You don’t want to give them opportunities and I think in the second period we took some poor penalties, three of them,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters post-game. “Our penalty kill was not sharp tonight. At the end of the day, for me that was the difference tonight.”
How much of the Flames’ struggles on the penalty-kill came down to the continued absence of captain Mikael Backlund? No forward has played more shorthanded minutes than Backlund this season, after all.
It’s probably a question worth asking, but the answer won’t do the Flames any good.
Backlund’s out week-to-week and they’re going to have to find a way to pick up points while he’s out of the lineup if they’re going to have any chance of making the playoffs. Monday’s loss in Toronto leaves them two points back of both the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues in the race for the Western Conference’s second wild card spot.
Whatever the reason, it needs to get fixed fast. Ideally, by the time the Flames take the ice at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday against the New York Rangers.
Here’s three takeaways from Monday’s loss:
Nobody in their right mind could place blame for Monday’s loss at the feet of Dustin Wolf.
The Flames’ rookie goaltender was pulled for the first time this season and replaced by Dan Vladar for the third period after stopping 21-of-26 shots.
And look, was Wolf amazing? No, but his teammates didn’t give him much of a chance to be, either.
“By no means was that on him tonight,” Huska told reporters. “He’s played really well for us, he’s given us a chance every time he’s been in there. At 5-1, we’ve played a lot of hockey in a short period of time and he’s going to get a lot of games coming up.”
The question now is whether pulling Wolf on Monday might impact who the Flames roll with on Tuesday against the Rangers.
Based on how they’ve operated this season, Vladar was likely going to get the start, but with Wolf not playing the full 60 minutes is it possible that they’ll give him back-to-back starts?
Amazon’s replays were inconclusive.
But the Flames didn’t have much of a problem with the decision to call back their second goal because Nazem Kadri was offside.
It certainly felt like a turning point and was probably frustrating for Flames fans who saw no definitive proof that Kadri had crossed the Leafs’ blueline before the puck on the broadcast, but Huska was emphatic that there were no complaints from his staff.
“It’s offside,” Huska told reporters. “When you have those video reviews on those, they don’t miss them with offside.”
We’re at the point in the wild card race where every game feels like a must-win for the Flames.
And Monday night’s result definitely doesn’t help them. But it isn’t time to throw in the towel just yet.
With 71 points, they’re two points back of the Canucks and Blues and have the same number of points as the Utah Hockey Club.
Fortunately, they’ve played one fewer game than the Canucks and Utah and two fewer than the Blues.
Win on Tuesday night, and they’ll be in decent-enough shape. They’ll have Connor Zary back after a two-game suspension, which should help.
But an effort like what the Flames gave Monday night isn’t going to cut-it.
“It’s the biggest game of the year, it’s must-win for us,” Flames blueliner MacKenzie Weegar told reporters. “I need more from everybody, including myself. We’ve got to get out of this and we’re right back in a playoff spot if we win tomorrow night, so it’s big.”
daustin@postmedia.com
www.twitter.com/DannyAustin_9
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