A team on a roll but tired, you give them an extra day off.
During those days off the NHL coach has his fingers and toes crossed however, as his team, used to games in three of every four nights suddenly run the risk of going cold. Potentially losing that edge, having some ice slink into their mitts. Glen Gulutzan’s greatest fears came to life on Wednesday night as the Flames despite a great start to the game lost their mojo in almost all aspects of their game in going down to defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 6-3.
The loss nixes the Flames six game win streak and wastes a chance to move by the Oilers in the standings.
Rest is rest however, it may have hurt their edge tonight but perhaps it will pay off down the road. Glen Gulutzan can only hope.
The Flow
Literally a tale of two periods, literally. The Flames completely dominate in the first 7-9 minutes of the period and are awarded on an early powerplay when Sean Monahan finds Troy Brouwer out front who tips it through the wickets of Ben Bishop; 1-0 Flames. Calgary gets a few more chances and generates another powerplay and are cruising when the complexion of the period completely changed on a double minor to Dougie Hamilton for high sticking. The Bolts Bryan Boyle tips a puck in from the point and the score is tied at one. Calgary doesn’t get their composure back and get caught on a rough line change creating a two on one and Boyle has his second of the period and it’s 2-1 Lightning. The visitors ran out the pressure for the rest of the period and the Flames are lucky to escape just down one.
More of the same in the second period for the Flames as they start the period much like they left off the first stanza; firmly planted on their heels. The Lightning are happy to take the game to them and are rewarded when a Brayden Coburn shot from the point eluded Johnson, a shot that looked like it could have been tipped inadvertently by captain Mark Giordano. The Flames, other than a breakaway with no shot from Micheal Ferland just didn’t have any jump. Things go from bad to worse as the period rolls along as the Flames take penalties stymying any attempt to come back and then eventually giving up another goal to go down 4-1 after two periods, one of the worst Flames efforts in since possibly Philadelphia.
The game didn’t really have that magical comeback feel for the Flames entering the third period, but they made sure of it by standing around early and yielding the 5th goal to the Lightning, this time past Brian Elliot who came in in relief of Chad Johnson. That was essentially it. That’s not to say things didn’t get somewhat interesting though as the Flames were awarded a powerplay, which ignited a two goal in 21 seconds burst to make a game of it. First TJ Brodie wires one from the point that may have hit Hedman, and then soon after Matt Stajan flips a pass over to Ferland on a two on one who one times it past Bishop to cut the lead to 5-3. The Flames get a breakaway soon after but Sam Bennett fails to beat Bishop on a chance that could have really made things interesting. In the end though the Flames fail to get closer and lose 6-3 on an empty net goal.
Possession Pulse
First Period – The period was split in half in terms of domination, and also tied in shot attempts at 12, Tampa had the lead in scoring chances 6-4.
Second Period – Despite the scoreboard, things remain close statistically as the Bolts had a 14-12 shot attempts edge in the second, the scoring chances in the period were even at five apiece.
Third Period – Bolts don’t sit on their lead in the third as they run up a 15-10 lead in shot attempts (five on five), but the scoring chances are even at six.
The Players – The Flames spent a lot of the game shorthanded, but they did have some players that did some good things 5 on 5 on the night. Lance Bouma, Kris Versteeg and Sean Monahan were all over 66%, somewhat uncharacteristic for Versteeg and Monahan. Other Flames over 50% included Ferland, Stajan, Engelland and Jokipakka. And on the bottom of the ledger, the Corsi Champions Mikael Backlund, Michael Frolik and Matthew Tkachuk all at between 25 and 25%, also uncharacteristic. Alex Chiasson, TJ Brodie and Sam Bennett also had tough nights at the Dome.
1. Alex Killorn:Two goals and an assist to pace the Lightning.
2. Valtteri Filppula:Who had three assists for the visitors.
3. Bryan Boyle:Scored two huge goals in the first period to completely change the outcome of this game.
Big Save
With the Flames completely in control Jyrki Jokipakka pulls a brain fart on the left half wall, turning it over to Johnathan Drouin who breaks in all alone on Chad Johnson. Johnson dares him to shoot glove side, which Drouin does, but Johnson takes it away with his trapper.
The Goat
Lots of targets in this one but I’m going to go with Dougie Hamilton. He was a -2 on the night which puts him in good company (bad company) for the box score but also took the high sticking double minor that seemed to send the game the other way.
Mr. Clutch
Victor Hedman. Sure he got beat wide by Micheal Ferland late, but he was money on the night in leading the way from the Bolt’s blueline with three assists and 28 minutes of ice time.
Odds and Ends
The Flames made one adjustment to the roster for tonight, Kris Versteeg stepping back into the lineup after recovering from his rib injury. In his place Garnet Hathaway went to the sidelines. Versteeg replaced Micheal Ferland on the top line with Ferland heading back down to the fourth line in place of Hathaway … Can’t believe Hedman was playing his 500th NHL game tonight. 500 games? How did that go by so quickly? … Sam Bennett in a scrap. Didn’t see that coming at all, but the kid aquitted himself quite well in tangling with another unusual combatant in Vladislav Namestnikov. … Really rough night for Jyrki Jokipakka who fought the puck all night including a terrible giveaway in the first period. Many, this writer included, thought he was ready for an enlarged role potentially joining Dougie Hamilton in the top four of a mobile Flames defense. Heck the worry coming in was losing the guy in the expansion draft with Vegas. Instead he continues to struggle making him a tweener for the roster and being resigned for next year. Shorter term, you have to wonder if maybe Tyler Wotherspoon will draw in when the Flames host the Blue Jackets on Friday. … Can’t say I blame Chad Johnson for the start, but his magic just ran out on the night and he didn’t make those same big saves we’ve seen for most of the last month. With that it wasn’t a big surprise to see Brian Elliot to star the third period. Despite a rough start with a goal early, he settled in and had a good period, yielding the potential that he starts the game on Friday. … Speaking of Elliott, the red pads are gone as he walked out with white ones in the third period. Completely new look for the relatively new Flame’s goaltender. … When the Flames got down 3-1 I was interested to see how they’d respond; they didn’t. Now that they’ve lost their win streak I’m even more interested to see if they bounce back on Friday night. The night had so much promise early, they looked to be on their way against Tampa in the game’s first minutes but they simply got away from their game. Over the past month the Flames have been great at bending but not breaking in their own zone; doing well to keep the big mistakes at a minimum. Tonight though they made a myriad of glaring mistakes. … Johnny Gaudreau ran his point streak to 6 games, a run that has netted him 3 goals and 7 assists. His old buddy Sean Monahan had his streak come to an end however as he was held pointless, snapping a seven game streak. … Nice to see Brayden Point play his first game in the Saddledome in the National Hockey League. I’ve coached with his dad at Blackfoot over the years and it’s been so interesting to watch and hear of his progress from a bubble player in Moose Jaw, to a key cog, to the WJC team, to the AHL to the show. Well done Point family!
Next Up
The Flames host the red hot Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night at the Saddledome, game time 7pm on Sportsnet.
Lines:
Tkachuk – Backlund – Frolik
Versteeg – Monahan – Brouwer
Gaudreau – Bennett – Chiasson
Bouma – Stajan – Ferland
Giordano – Hamilton
Brodie – Hamilton
Jokipakka – Engelland
Johnson
