Post-Game: Flames Lose Rematch With Canucks

Just over 24 hours removed from an emotional come-from-behind win at home against the New York Islanders, the Flames visited Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Aside from a brief skirmish between Mark Giordano and Kevin Bieksa in the first period, the Flames didn’t have as much intensity and emotion as they did against the Isles. Their execution was also a bit lacking, particularly around the net.

As a result, the Calgary Flames were defeated in a tight-checking 2-1 game that was alternately sloppy, choppy and occasionally hard to watch.

There was no scoring in the first period. Both teams played, essentially, road-style games. Well structured, but restrained, in the sense that neither team took risks. There were lots of neutral zone and perimeter plays, but nothing much inside each zone. The Flames had 17 shot blocks, Canucks with 10. Giordano missed the majority of the first getting repairs after a fight with Kevin Bieksa – he had less ice-time than even Tyler Wotherspoon (5:15 vs. Gio’s 4:26). Shots were 3-2 Calgary, attempts 19-13 Canucks, chances 7-4 Canucks, face-offs 7-6 Canucks.

The second period featured two goals! They were both fairly ugly, garbage goals. Brian McGrattan beat Eddie Lack from center ice. It was ugly, but Wotherspoon got an assist. Darren Archibald answered back for the Canucks, driving the net and chopping the puck past Joni Ortio amidst a big scrum. Both goals counted, but neither were pretty. Shots were 11-6 Calgary, attempts 23-20 Canucks, chances 5-3 Flames, face-offs 14-9 Canucks

Joni Ortio was really good in the third. Eddie Lack was a little better. Lance Bouma was set up with a wide-open net by Sean Monahan, but whiffed on the shot, putting it through crease but not into the net. The Flames soon began suffering the same brain-farts in their zone that they faced in the second period against the Islanders – including a complete inability to clear a puck out of their own zone. Such a break-down lead to another chippy goal by the Canucks – Shawn Mattias drove the net, the Canucks boxed out the Flames defenders as the puck squirted into the slot on the rebound, and Yannick Weber had a wide-open cage for the go-ahead goal. The Flames had two power-plays to tie things up, but a combination of the Flames passing the puck a bit too much and Eddie Lack being in the zone kept the Canucks up by one, and that’s how she ended. Shots in the third were 14-8 Calgary, attempts 42-33 Canucks, chances 5-3 Flames, face-offs were 21-15 Canucks.

Eddie Lack was better than the Flames shooters, aside from that one wonky Brian McGrattan shot. In addition, the Flames didn’t execute well in the offensive zone, with many passes ending up in skates, or just missing the mark. A lack of execution in general plagued them, and they play just poorly enough to lose.

Lance Bouma. Shot-blocking robot from the future.

Calgary (25-32-7) is off tomorrow, and then back in action at the ‘Dome on Monday night for a battle with the Los Angeles Kings.