Canadiens 3, Flames 2 post-game embers: Went on break early

Were the Flames even… what’s the word… trying?

Look, I get it it. It’s the holiday season. I don’t even celebrate Christmas and I’m already pretty much completely checked out on real world responsibilities. Even if you have a non-traditional job, it’s really difficult to avoid the atmosphere of everyone just being done with everything.

But that doesn’t excuse whatever that was. Yes, there was a post hit at the very beginning of the game that, had it gone in, maybe would have resulted in something completely different. But that didn’t happen, and instead, the Flames got a wake up call in the form of a brutal goal against that was mercifully called back because the coach’s challenge exists because this happened once. They had their warning – if you go to sleep, you will get scored on – and they just… didn’t care.

The Flames didn’t show any signs of life until they scored a goal of their own (and it is nice to see Michael Frolik get something out of all of his shooting efforts). Unfortunately for them, they only had half a period left to score another two goals (should have been another three), and while it was surprising they even drew within one to begin with, all it really did was save their goal differential a little.

Hell, though, even after they scored they still went another five minutes without a single shot attempt on net.

Sam Bennett had four shots on net and often times looked like the only one who cared. He didn’t deserve this.

The logic at the start of the season was the Flames had actively upgraded their roster. Sure, there were a few question marks – Mike Smith, Bennett – but the overall personnel was better, and they’d had a full year to work with their new coach. Other than Jaromir Jagr, everyone was present and accounted for at training camp. Really, there was no excuse to not come out of the gates flying.

That hasn’t happened. Some teams look like clear cut competitors, and it isn’t too late for the Flames to put themselves among their ranks, but it wasn’t unfair to expect them to at least be in the top half of the league by the break, or look at least halfway comfortable in a playoff spot.

Instead we’ve gotten retreads from last year’s greatest lows, must notably a fit of mental weakness that cost them a few points, again.

Yes, there has been some statistical growth – and that is important – but there needs to be more, and it doesn’t count if we only see it half the time. The Flames played genuinely great games in the three preceding this one. Where did that go? Seriously, what happened? How many times after a game this season have we gotten post-game quotes referencing how they were outworked or straight up didn’t want it enough? How does this keep happening?

Would another sixth defenceman playing have made a difference? Honestly, probably not, especially when you consider Matt Bartkowski only played 13:03 and wasn’t incredibly awful or anything.

Then again… maybe it would have? There’s always this talk about how the youthful energy of a recalled player helps get the others going, and while there’s no way to tell if that’s actually true all the time, maybe Rasmus Andersson’s presence on the ice genuinely would have helped.

While Bartkowski was inoffensive, that was pretty much a best case scenario for him. Andersson’s best case scenario probably would have been a goal or something. His worst case scenario would have been, well, the Flames lost anyway, so would it have really mattered? It’s either high risk, no reward or high risk, maybe reward, both in the short and long term, and the Flames went with the former.

Maybe Michael Stone just isn’t cut out for big minutes (in which case, with that $3.5 million price tag for three years, gulp), and there isn’t much Andersson probably could have done about that. But we already know Bartkowski will never be the answer. So really, this is just a waste of time for most of us.

Andersson, for his part, has 16 points in 22 AHL games as a 21-year-old sophomore. He’s that all-too-desirable right-shot, to boot. There was really no reason for him to not be playing.

It’s really difficult to pin this one on Smith, mostly because he got very little help. Sure, he could have been better – and maybe being a little better gets them to overtime – but when the skaters in front of him have already called it quits and the opposition is swarming around his zone, well, there’s only so much he can really actually do. Could he have done a better job on the rebound that led to the eventual game winner? Sure, and his defence could have also not let the Habs have their way. The Flames were outshot 35-23. At home.

Really, the only particularly egregious goal was the first one Smith let in five-hole that ended up not counting.

Like with Andersson, it’s not to say that David Rittich would have made a concrete difference in this game (though he would have had greater influence on it than a sixth defenceman), but that Smith is hella overworked and it’s not like the team as a whole would be that much worse off if they just tried someone else every now and then. Rittich has started twice this month and they were both on the second of back-to-backs.

Smith has had a respectable season overall but it is actively deteriorating and seriously, it’s not going to kill the team to play someone new who has, by all accounts, earned it.

On Dec. 22, 2014, Johnny Gaudreau scored the first hat trick of his NHL career.

On Dec. 22, 2015, Johnny Gaudreau scored another hat trick.

On Dec. 22, 2016, Johnny Gaudreau did not play a game for the Calgary Flames. He was, however, pointless in a Dec. 23, 2016 game.

On Dec. 22, 2017, Johnny Gaudreau picked up a powerplay assist and that was about it.

Gaudreau has 41 points in 36 games so far this season, which is very good (leading his team by nine points and tied for sixth in the NHL, as a matter of fact – and everybody above him as an almost equally high-scoring partner to feed off of, which he does not). He has also slowed down from his 19 points in 10 straight games streak, which, fair enough, but the Flames unfortunately need him to contribute more again. (He has seven points in 11 games this month, which honestly isn’t even bad, and it’s more of a testament to just how good he can be that those numbers feel disappointing.)

The Flames need a lot of guys to get back on it – it feels like the third line has stolen all of the first’s mojo – but they’d be much better off if Gaudreau, specifically, could recapture some of that fire in a bottle.