POST GAME: Coyotes. Ugly.

The Arizona Coyotes are the Frasier of hockey teams, you’ll watch it if it’s on but … ugh. Why? 

Did we really have to watch this game to know what happened? The Flames lost 4-1 in a vintage Flames/Coyotes game. The Flames didn’t play poorly, the Coyotes didn’t play great. The Flames lost a game they probably could have won but weren’t robbed by any measure.

Did I watch the game, or did I write that previous paragraph in August 2002? Who knows? Probably not you. Probably not even me anymore… The names and scenery change, but the Plotnikov remains the same. Read all about it after the jump!

The first period was a snoozer, but it’s our fault if we expected any different. Joni Ortio made a few pretty nice stops late in the first to keep the game scoreless and that’s the way it stayed after the first. The Flames didn’t have many good chances and neither did the Coyotes. Time passed. Somewhere, dogs barked and children played.

However, the second started VERY WELL. Despite the fact that the Coyotes had a powerplay, Michael “Elven Prince” Frolik busted up an Arizona zone entry and handed a tap-in to Mikael Backlund for the shortie. A beautiful play all around from Frolik who has been rock-solid all season for the Flames even if his offensive numbers haven’t been huge. Backlund is now only three goals away from his career high of 18 goals and three points shy of his career high of 39 points. Have a look at the goal here:

However, to be sporting, the Flames afforded the Coyotes a shorthanded goal as well. Boyd Gordon batted a cross-ice pass out of mid air to beat Ortio, who had been exceptionally solid prior to that (and was hardly to blame for the goal). Have a look courtesy of the best follow on twitter, @myregularface:

The Flames controlled play for large stretches in the second but were unable to convert and the period ended 1-1. Micheal Ferland, sadly the victim of a gypsy curse and playing on the top line with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, had at least two good scoring chances but couldn’t beat Domingue. Also, this occured:

He’s practically a swan out there. It was also a fitting metaphor for the second half of the Flames game.

Early in the third, Kevin Jokipakka took a holding call and the Flames were, again, unable to kill a penalty at a key moment in the game. I am not sure who, outside of the coaching staff, can be blamed for the abysmal penalty killing this season but it is certainly a lingering problem. Antoine Vermette finished off a nice bit of passing and the Coyotes went ahead 2-1. 

Late in the third, Sean Monahan just missed wide on an odd man rush for the Flames and the Coyotes went back the other way and iced the game. Joni Ortio kicked a Shane Doan shot out to Brad Richardson who whacked it past Ortio and put the Coyotes up 3-1.

Despite a late powerplay, the Flames weren’t able to mount a serious attempt at a comeback and lost by the score of 4-1 when the Coyotes buried an empty netter. 

Though I thought  Mikael Backlund was good again, I think that the obvious choice from a listless Flames performance was Frolik who generated scoring chances consistently for the Flames and did all the work on the lone Flames goal of the night. 

The line of Agostino, Backlund, and Frolik was an intriguing line heading into tonight’s game and I thought they were clearly three of the best forwards all night for the Flames. Hopefully Agostino can get a long look with the big club, he’s certainly deserved it.

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