Post-Game: Caned By The Canes

The Calgary Flames finished their second big road trip of 2014-15 with a whimper, dropping a 4-1 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena in Raleigh on Monday night. The loss concludes a five-game road trip that saw the Flames go 3-2-0.

It’s a shame, too, because the Flames played a good first period and had a lot of jump, but never seemed to get their legs (or hearts) back into things after they got down by a goal in the second.

The Flames and Hurricanes traded goals in the first. On a power-play, David Jones notched his second in as many games off a nice set-up from Curtis Glencross. That lead didn’t last long, as Zach Boychuk beat Jonas Hiller from a weird angle to tie it up. Shots were 8-5 Calgary in the opening frame.

The Hurricanes quietly and quickly took over the game in the second period. Justin Faulk scored off a face-off on a power-play triggered by Devin Setoguchi to give Carolina the lead. The game went back and forth – mostly in the Flames zone – until Jeff Skinner one-timed home his 100th career goal mid-way through the frame to make it 3-1. That was basically the dagger, and it was set up by Brandon Bollig biffing it in the neutral zone and giving the Hurricanes a rush with numbers on their side. Shots were 14-10 Carolina.

Tim Gleason scored the lone goal in the third period after a lazy clearing attempt by Jiri Hudler. The Flames never really pressed in the third and looked out of gas. Shots were 12-5 Carolina.

They let the Hurricanes dictate the game, especially in the second and third periods. The traditional late-game jump that we’ve become so accustomed to seeing in the last few games was absent. Call it fatigue, but outside of the first 20 minutes the Calgary Flames didn’t show much.

David Jones scored the lone goal and continued to have some jump in his game. He gets the nod.

The Flames return home somewhat disappointed from the final game of their trip, but ultimately probably pretty satisfied as they have a record north of .500 both on this trip (3-2-0) and overall (9-6-2). They have a couple days to rest up before getting back into action with their first game of the season against the newly-renamed Arizona Coyotes. That goes Thursday night at 7pm MT at the Scotiabank Saddledome.