Canucks 5, Flames 3 post-game embers: No excuse

The Flames were the better team last night. They just flat out were. Particularly, through the first 40 minutes – and considering how they’ve had some problems with scoring goals, but still managed to put three up, that should have been enough.

It wasn’t, and it was entirely on them. This wasn’t a good team losing to a better team – this was a good team beating itself. Frustrating would probably be the word.

For the second game in a row, Mike Smith had a poor outing.

For the second game in a row, he was responsible for a goal against.

That shorthanded goal was inexcusable, and almost certainly doesn’t happen if he’d just stayed in his net, rather than sliding so far out. There are some benefits to Smith’s willingness to engage in the play, and then there’s what happens when things go awry, and a shorthanded goal was not only surrendered, but apparently turned the tide for the rest of the game.

Then there’s also that he had his numerically worst outing of the season: a .762 save percentage, even worse than the Ottawa blowout, in which he registered a .773.

It wasn’t just that, though, but it was that the goalie he battled – a goalie who had played the night before, even. The Flames vastly outchanced the Canucks, and it was mostly Jacob Markstrom that got in the way of this one.

The Flames absolutely dominated at five-on-five. I mean, 62.2% CF throughout the game. Even when they fell off in the third period, they were still primarily controlling play (although the Canucks’ two-goal lead might have had something to do with that). And they were often dangerous, too; they owned the high chances battle as much as they won the corsi one (actually, probably even more so).

Like, there was quite a fair bit to like about their game. This is where the low shooting percentage and save percentage regression both kicked in. There are some games where things just won’t go your way, as much as it should have been earned on the ice.

But again, special teams posed a problem. The Flames scored on two of their four powerplays, which is pretty good. They also surrendered two powerplay goals on three attempts to one of the worst powerplay teams in the NHL and gave up a shorthanded goal, which is pretty bad.

I mean, it really is inexcusable just how bad that shorty against was. That was the game right there.

But the penalty kill did start strong. They were two seconds away from killing off another penalty. They were close, they almost had it, they lost it – kind of the story of the game.

So Jaromir Jagr finally came back to the lineup. He played 13:04 in the game, and had a generally blank stat sheet, albeit while putting up a 73.68% CF.

Oh, and his cycle game is beyond incredible.

Jagr’s longest shift lasted 1:30, a time during which he, Mark Jankowski, and Kris Versteeg (filling in for Sam Bennett after back-to-back penalty kills), completely dunked on the Canucks, albeit without any meaningful offence to show for it. Still, it was a marvel just watching them down low, and really reintroduces something the Flames were missing with Jagr out.

Though they haven’t capitalized on that yet, it feels like it’s coming. That was such a phenomenal shift. (Like so many others that resulted in ultimately nothing, unfortunately.)

He didn’t have any powerplay time last night, though. I’m wondering if that comes later.

With each passing game, it becomes more and more apparent just how special a player Johnny Gaudreau is.

He should have had a multi-point night, even with the Flames’ first goal being taken away for an offside call. His five shots would attest to that. The chances upon chances upon chances he had would attest to that. Gaudreau is the heartbeat of the Flames’ offence – maybe a little too strongly, but hey, he’s also one of the NHL’s top scorers so far – and when he keeps playing games like this, it’s easy to see why.

Which is where I’ll throw in the reminder that he’s still only 24 years old, and this could simply be him continuing to get better.

Tangentially, with each passing game, Micheal Ferland keeps looking like he belongs on the top line. His goal certainly helped make his case – he’s now second in goals on the Flames, and a .5 point-per-game player – but he’s also just plain clicking on that line, too. It’s good to see him make the most of this opportunity, especially because it helps the Flames overall.

We’re probably still not enough games in to really declare anything, but Ferland really could be the answer, and that’s pretty swell.

Sam Bennett created the Flames’ first goal on the night. He had a tertiary assist for his efforts. Which aren’t things that are actually recorded. So basically, he got no recognition, even though that goal doesn’t happen without him.

Of course, it’s not just Bennett – the entire bottom six has a scoring problem, Versteeg aside (and he plays on the top powerplay unit. Also he had a wide open net right in front of him and failed to score, so) – but Bennett is going to take the most heat as the highest draft pick in franchise history. I’m starting to think it’s more symptomatic of half the roster just not being able to do anything than Bennett himself being the problem, even though 15 games without a single point is not a good look.