With ‘last year’s Flames’ finally showing up on Friday night and restoring some faith and sanity in the fan-base, there seemed to be a fair bit of anticipation for Sunday’s visit to Madison Square Garden to see whether they were in fact ‘back’ or whether it had simply been a one-off anomaly.
But even if they were back, this would be a tough task, as MSG is always a tough place to play and the Rangers are off to a solid 5-2-2 start. The Flames all-time record there is 24-25-8, including a tough 1-0 loss last year.
They entered the day in 6th place in the division. A win could potentially see them pass the Oilers into 5th (pending the Oiler/Kings game later this evening) and move them within 4 points of 1st in the Pacific. Conversely, another regulation loss would sink them even deeper into 6th and leave them only 1 point ahead of the shockingly inept Ducks.
In other words, just another really big game.
As it turned out, last year’s Flames did show up. For 30 minutes, they played a fantastic road game and held a well deserved one goal lead. In fact it probably should have been more.
But then some poor defensive coverage and soft goaltending destroyed all that. Two goals on 5 shots in the 2nd, and then 2 really bad goals in the 3rd, and all the problems that have been plaguing this team this year were re-exposed under the glaring bright lights of Broadway. A 401 loss that will be very hard to shake off and forget.
The Flow
The Flames were looking for a strong start but unfortunately, Giordano took a tripping penalty on the first shift. With the early PP, the Rangers had one really good chance with a wide open net for Hayes, but he missed and they couldn’t capitalize. The penalty ended, the play continued, and the top line came back out. Took the puck up the ice, Monahan tipped it to Gaudreau and he made a beautiful no-look backhand pass to Hudler, who had a wide open net for an easy goal. Strong start after all!
About 8 minutes in, Kreider had a brain cramp and tackled Backlund, giving the Flames a chance on the power play, but they couldn’t do much with theirs either. A little while later there was a 4 on 4 situation. The Flames seemed content throughout to simply circle around, passing the puck. Colborne turned it over twice and both led to good chances for the Rangers. But Hiller was up to the task.
The Flames were terrible on the dot in the first and, after an icing, it almost bit them as they spent a lengthy shift in their own end, giving up multiple chances. But again Hiller was good. Then Giordano took his 2nd penalty of the period on what can only be called a second dive. On the PK, Backlund had a clear cut breakaway. Unfortunately the puck was bouncing and by the time he corralled it, he didn’t have a lot of room. Frolik followed up the play and had a good chance on the rebound but Raanta made 2 good saves.
The first period ended with the Flames up 1-0. Shots were 8-8, with the Flames out-hitting the Rangers 6-2.
They started the dreaded 2nd with lots of jump. A dangerous shift by the top line, followed by a good shift from Bennett and his line, eventually led to a PP. They didn’t score but had good pressure for the full two minutes. They maintained momentum for a while afterwards as well. Bennett was rewarded with another shift and generated another good chance. Then another shift and he showed a beautiful power drive to the net. Unfortunately, Raanta did not allow him that elusive first goal of the season, but it was easily Bennett’s best period of the young season. The flood gates are on 24 hour alert.
Half way through the frame, shots were 7-1 for the visitors with strong efforts up and down the lineup. Then one shift in the defensive zone, one pass to the slot and a shot goes off Hamilton’s leg and in. But the Flames didn’t wilt, they responded with a really good shift from Johnny and co. He almost scored on a wraparound and then they almost banged in the rebound.
After some more solid play from the Flames, another shift in their zone, a pass to Girardi in the slot and it was 2-1. Again the Flames responded well and continued to push for the remainder of the period, but in the end, despite the shots being 10-5 in their favour, the Rangers got the only two goals. Pretty frustrating result to what was – other than for maybe 20 or 30 seconds – an almost perfect road period. Flames outhit the Rangers 9-7 and won 10 of 16 FOs.
They started the 3rd with the same jump. The top line had a good shift and then Bennett had another dangerous shift. He simply played at a different level in this contest.
About 9 minutes into the period, Hiller kicked a rebound from a harmless shot out into the slot and panic ensued. The puck eventually went out to the point where Klein sent a wrist shot over Hiller who was sitting on his backside. That was a back-breaker that made it 3-1. Two minutes later, Brassard beat Hiller with a wrist shot. It was bad defensive coverage, but it was a shot he should have had. Four goals on 21 shots.
Hartley then made a goaltending change. It was the right call – not because Hiller was bad (though he was), but because it gave Ortio his first playing time of the season. There is no doubt Ortio will play in Brooklyn, and getting in tonight would give him a chance to shake off those initial butterflies.
Little happened the rest of the way as the damage had been done. Final score 4-1. For the first 30 minutes, it was an excellent road game and there was much to like and build off of. But by the end, it was a disaster. And that is the problem with bad goaltending – it is deflating, which just leads to so many more problems. Until the defensive coverage and the goaltending are better, this team is in trouble.
Three Stars
1.Antti Raanta : Now 16-0-3 on home ice, he was quite simply the difference, easily outshining his counterpart.
2.Dan Girardi : 1 goal, 2 shots, 3 hits, 4 blocked shots and 20 minutes of ice-time
3.Sam Bennett : Could have given it to Gaudreau, but Bennett deserved mention for what was probably his best game in the NHL.
Big Save
With the Flames up 1-0 and killing a penalty, Backlund got free for a breakaway. Raanta came up big and then made a great follow-up save on Frolik on the rebound. Game changer, and the Rangers rallied from there
The Goat
Tough call. Hamilton was bad on the first goal, and was on the ice for 3 of the goals against. But Hiller was his own worst enemy on the 3rd goal, which was the back-breaker. I don’t like to blame everything on the goalies, but Hiller just wasn’t good enough in this one. When a team is fragile, losing the goaltending battle is a recipe for disaster.
Mr. Clutch
Antti Raanta. The two saves on Backlund and Frolik in the 2nd kept his team in it.
Odds and Ends
Backlund had a really solid game – probably his best of the season – with 4 shots and multiple chances. But at some point he has to start producing or this league will pass him by.
Johnny Gaudreau finished last season with 20 points in his final 19 games. Since the game in Philadelphia on March 3rd, and with his assist tonight, he has 14G, 25A, 39P in the last 36 games, including the regular season and playoffs.
Derek Grant made his Flame debut, centering a line with Bennett and Jooris. He had 3 goals in his 3 games in Stockton. Prior to this season, he had played a total of 25 NHL games with the Senators, recording 2 assists. I thought he played a very solid game – he was -1 but he had 2 shots and was 56% on the dot. His young line, led by Bennett, generated all kinds of scoring chances. He was rewarded with more than 10 minutes of ice-time and it would seem a safe bet that he has earned another game tomorrow.
Speaking of Bennett, he was simply fantastic in this game. 11:48 TOI, 3 shots and 1 hit (though my memory tells me he had a lot more than that) but most importantly, his persistent fore-check generated all kinds of great scoring chances. He will pop the bubble very soon.
Wideman led all Flames in TOI again, with over 26 minutes. In his last 47 games dating back to Feb 9th (regular season and playoffs), he has 39 points.
A tale of two teams… there have been plenty of discussion points with respect to what has been wrong with the Flames so far, but some of these numbers shed an interesting light (all prior to tonight’s game):
In their 2 wins, they have outshot the opponent 79-58. They have given up only 4 goals, and have outscored their opposition 5-1 at even strength. Conversely, in their 5 losses, they have been outshot 161-110 (32-22 per game on average). They have given up 23 goals and been outscored 20-6 at even strength.
Last season the Flames tied for 6th in goals for, and tied for 16th in goals against. Coming into tonight’s action, they were tied for 23rd in goals for , and were a distant 28th in goals against.
Another change from last season is penalties. Last year, the Flames were one of the least penalized teams in the league and had the fewest actual minutes short-handed. Coming into tonight’s action, they have the 3rd most penalty minutes per game.
TJ Brodie is travelling with the team and practiced with them this morning. Hopefully we see him in Ottawa Wednesday (unlikely), or back in Calgary against the Habs on Friday.
Next Up
Just a short subway ride to Brooklyn for their first game in the Barclays Center against the Islanders tomorrow night, another 5:00 start on SNW.
Lines:
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Jiri Hudler
Joe Colborne – Mikael Backlund – Michael Frolik
Sam Bennett – Derek Grant – Josh Jooris
Brandon Bollig – Matt Stajan – David Jones
Mark Giordano – Dennis Wideman
Kris Russell – Deryk Engelland
Vladislav Smid – Dougie Hamilton
Jonas Hiller
