Post-Game: Smith-less Flames exposed by the Red Wings
By Ryan Pike
6 years agoThe Calgary Flames lost to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night. In their first game without Mike Smith – who’s been the safety blanket to the team’s Linus Van Pelt – they looked flat, rudderless and lost. They trailed for almost the entire game and then a frustrated team contributed to a clown show at the end of the game.
On the scoreboard, the Flames lost by an 8-2 score. It’s still yet to be determined what else they’ll lose by virtue of supplemental discipline.
The Rundown
Rather than go blow by blow, let’s walk through the goals and see how this sucker got off the rails.
- 1-0 Detroit at 5:35 of the first. Andreas Athanasiou scores on a three-on-one rush, with T.J. Brodie redirecting the puck into his own net. Brodie was caught on his own after Mark Jankowski and Travis Hamonic were caught deep and couldn’t get back to cover their checks after a turnover.
- 2-0 Detroit at 7:25 of the first. After an uncontested carry-in by the Red Wings, Brodie overskates the puck and Hamonic has his stick lifted, allowing Gustav Nyquist a golden chance in the slot and he buried a wrister.
- 2-1 Detroit at 8:37 of the first, as the Flames answer back on the power play. A Micheal Ferland shot trickles through Jimmy Howard’s pads and in.
- 3-1 Detroit at 15:44 of the first. Anthony Mantha is left more or less unchecked to the side of the slot on a power play. His original redirection is partially stopped by Eddie Lack, but Mantha drives the net and pokes in the rebound.
- 4-1 Detroit at 17:17 of the first. Dylan Larkin corrals a loose puck on a Flames power play and beats Lack.
- 5-1 Detroit at 4:27 of the second. Mantha gets another redirection goal from a very similar spot on the power play. This chases Lack.
- 5-2 Detroit at 12:34 of the second. Johnny Gaudreau comes into the Detroit zone on a rush as the trailer. The Red Wings had backed themselves in, giving Gaudreau tons of time to rifle off a wrister.
- 6-2 Detroit at 19:16 of the second. Justin Abdelkader beats out Hamonic on a dump-in and beats Jon Gillies short-side with a quick shot.
- 7-2 Detroit at 16:10 of the third. A power play goal by Athanasiou, a redirection through Gillies.
- 8-2 Detroit at 18:37 of the third. Another power play goal, this time Luke Glendening jumping on a rebound in the goal-mouth.
The last two goals were a product of a massive brawl that broke out between (and inside) the benches with just over five minutes left. Luke Witkowski fought Brett Kulak – who was overmatched – and then was shouting at the Flames bench as he left the ice. Then he came back after getting poked in the calf by Matthew Tkachuk, triggering a couple additional fights and a bunch of penalties.
Here’s the penalty segment of the Game Summary:
Shots were roughly even in each period and the Flames out-chanced the Red Wings in two of the three periods. Granted, the Flames trailed in the entire game and trailed by many goals for much of it, so those numbers are basically worthless.
Why The Flames Lost
The Flames got down early because of defensive miscues. They stayed down because they couldn’t muster enough structure into their game to mount a comeback. Three even strength goals (Detroit’s first, second and sixth goals) were because the defense wasn’t great. Two goals (Detroit’s third and fifth goals) were because their penalty killing couldn’t cut it. And another one was because they couldn’t handle the puck on their own power play.
Lots of structural issues, lots of unforced mental errors and lots of poor execution. All of that amounted to a pretty one-sided whuppin’ from the Red Wings.
The knee-jerk reaction might be to burn the tape, but man, they should really try to learn from all the little things they did wrong that snowballed on ’em.
Red Warrior
Gaudreau continued his points streak and was one of the few Flames that played with consistent energy.
The Turning Point
Abdelkader’s goal, beating out Hamonic for a loose puck, completely killed any thoughts of a Flames comeback.
The Numbers
(Percentage stats are 5-on-5, data via Corsica.hockey)
| Player | Corsi For% | O-Zone Start% | Game Score |
| Kulak | 78.3 | 28.6 | 1.000 |
| Stone | 76.9 | 28.6 | 0.900 |
| Frolik | 72.4 | 100 | 0.690 |
| Jankowski | 72.2 | 42.9 | 0.420 |
| Tkachuk | 69.2 | 80.0 | 0.050 |
| Backlund | 69.2 | 100 | 0.180 |
| Giordano | 66.7 | 60.0 | 1.075 |
| Hamilton | 65.7 | 60.0 | 1.475 |
| Jagr | 62.5 | 42.9 | 0.275 |
| Bennett | 61.9 | 42.9 | 0.155 |
| Versteeg | 57.1 | 0.0 | 0.125 |
| Gaudreau | 47.8 | 33.3 | 1.550 |
| Ferland | 47.4 | 33.3 | 1.975 |
| Lazar | 46.2 | 0.0 | -0.200 |
| Brouwer | 46.2 | 0.0 | -0.265 |
| Monahan | 45.0 | 20.0 | 0.190 |
| Brodie | 22.2 | 60.0 | -0.400 |
| Hamonic | 18.8 | 60.0 | -0.975 |
| Lack | — | — | -2.750 |
| Gillies | — | — | -1.350 |
Up Next
The Flames (10-8-0) are off to Philadelphia! They play the Flyers at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning.
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