Surprisingly, the city of Calgary has largely been spared the true depths of despair that come with a rebuild this season; they just haven’t been that bad. A hot start, a re-correction, then a resurgence with a team playing .500 plus hockey and always with an eye to entertaining hockey.
The holiday season however, has been tough on the Flames, with gifts of a sputtering offence and an inability to finish highlighting home loss after home loss.
Last night the Flames managed to finally score, a goal, avoiding three straight shut outs on home ice but came up empty handed dropping a 4-1 contest to the Philadelphia Flyers.
On The Line
The Flames have done a lot to surprise their own fans and media across the continent by continuing to find points and stick within firing distance of the .500 mark, but another loss on home ice would hurt that image and tear down a lot of the gains they made on that tough Eastern road trip.
The Flow
The flow of this game pretty much followed the script we’ve seen of late by the Flames. Hard work, no finish.
The Flyers had the better of the play in the first period, out shooting and chancing the slow starting Flames but only found the net once on a Mark Streit offering.
The second period had the Flames push back but getting little for their efforts until Sean Monahan found the cage late in the stanza. Unfortunately for the Flames the Flyers found the go ahead goal again soon after when Brayden Schen found the mark.
The third period wasn’t an electric one by any standards, as the Flyers essentially put it away on a Hartnell tip in with ten minutes to play.
Three Stars
- Brayden Schenn: Solid game for the former King prospect, scoring once and adding two assists.
- Wayne Simmonds: Two assists, as the former King continues a hot western road trip with two assists.
- Sean Monahan: Flame rookie snaps a scoreless spell not only for himself but the Flames in the second with his 11th of the season.
The Goat
Derek Smith. Flames 7th/8th defenseman did little to make a case for further deployment when Wideman comes back by coughing the puck up twice for Flyer goals.
Mr. Clutch
Ladislav Smid, game in game out the guy shows up. Only plus player in a game where the Flames lose by three, and pulls in 21 minutes of service.
Odds and Ends
The Sean Monahan goal is likely very important to both the Flames and the player. He had gone six straight games without a point, after his goal in New York against the Rangers. The timing is good as well, as some NHL production while Calgarians watch the World Juniors and wonder what could have been for the former OHL product. The NHL rookie scoring race isn`t exactly blazing this year, so a surge from Monahan could still see the player get into the mix for the Calder (he trails by 8 points to the injured Tomas Hertl). … The silver lining to the Flames recent struggles can be seen in the standings with some of the bottom dwellers finally putting up points. The Flames have been passed by the Panthers, and now have the Islanders (beat the Bruins yesterday) within a point. Calgary could see themselves in the third draft spot and within striking distance of two if the Oilers continue to put up points. Imagine an entertaining rebuilding season, complete with a firing of the GM, and still find a top two pick. … Interesting to see only three Flames players suiting up for all 40 games thus far this season due to injury and scratches; leading scorer Jiri Hudler, and defensemen TJ Brodie, and Chris Butler. … Nail Yakupov continues to run away and hide when it comes to a league worst plus minus (-25), but Cammalleri (-19) and Stempniak (-18) continue to do their best to stay in the hunt!
Next up
Tampa Bay comes to town on Friday to take on the Flames, game time 7pm on Sportsnet.
