Flames outplayed in Buffalo, but manage to hang around

It’s safe to say that it’s been a weird week for the Calgary Flames. There are obviously distractions afoot. So it was a bit encouraging that the team didn’t collapse at the first sign of trouble against the Buffalo Sabres.

They didn’t play their best game of the season, but they just played well enough to give themselves a chance.

Associate coach Geoff Ward, running the bench in the absence of Bill Peters, praised his team’s ability to stick with it given the challenging circumstances.

“I thought the guys did a great job,” said Ward. “I thought their focus the last two days was real good. I thought at points we bent tonight, but all in all, with all the circumstances surrounding the last couple days, i thought the guys did a fantastic job. We were resilient, found a way to hang around, and get the win at the end.”

The way they “found a way” to hang around was named David Rittich. For the 13th time in 22 starts, Rittich faced 30+ shots. But he managed to make key saves at key times, particularly in a busy third period.

Combine that with a strong performance from Matthew Tkachuk – he scored the game-tying goal and set up the game-winning goal by accepting a hit behind the net in order to shuffle the puck over to Elias Lindholm.

The two goals against were, as always, self-inflicted wounds. On the first Sabres goal, Lindholm whiffed on a pass and allowed Jimmy Vesey to get sprung for a breakaway chance. On the second Sabres goal, the Flames got caught up ice on a Buffalo breakout and their momentary confusion racing back to defend allowed Victor Olofsson enough time and space to get a nice shot off.

On the other hand, the goals the Flames scored were products of out-working Buffalo in the offensive zone and getting position on them in key areas of the ice. If they can mind their store more often defensively and keep that work ethic up offensively, they may be able to start stringing wins together.

For now? They’re thankful to head home with a 2-1-1 record on their road trip. But don’t worry: their problems will be waiting at home for them.