Post-Game Wrap-Up: Sharks turn Flames into chum

The Calgary Flames were pretty bad on Saturday night in Las Vegas. On Sunday night in San Jose, they were much better. Unfortunately, “much better” didn’t translate into a better result on the scoreboard as key gaffes at key times led to a 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

The Flames generated a lot of good offensive pressure early on, but the very first shot on Cam Talbot beat him. Logan Couture hucked a puck towards the front of the net from the corner and it deflected off Timo Meier’s skate and in to make it 1-0 Sharks.

The Flames pressed but couldn’t bury their chances. Some nice passing sprang Kevin LaBanc in all alone against Talbot and his wrister beat him glove-side to make it 2-0 Sharks. Rasmus Andersson, Mikael Backlund and Oliver Kylington were caught on their heels a bit during this goal.

Shots were 11-6 Flames in the first period, but scoring chances were 5-5.

Midway through the second period the Flames got on the scoreboard. Elias Lindholm won a face-off back to TJ Bodie, then headed to slot in time to deflect Brodie’s point shot past Jones to cut the home side’s lead to 2-1.

Later in the period the Flames had a power play. It didn’t go well. Matthew Tkachuk coughed up the puck to Couture, who drove into the Flames zone. Mark Giordano couldn’t seem to commit to defending Couture or trying to block a pass to the trailing Tomas Hertl. As a result he did neither, which allowed Hertl to bury the pass from Couture to make it 3-1 Sharks.

Shots were 11-11 in the second period, while chances were 7-6 Flames.

The Flames had a few power plays in the third period, but couldn’t convert. For their purposes, the Sharks were content just to toss the puck out of their zone and let the clock run down.

Shots were 11-3 Flames and chances 3-0 Flames in the third period.

The Flames had a better effort than they did on Saturday. But their execution was still lacking, as they couldn’t turn considerable amounts of zone time into scoring chances. Look at their power plays: the had the puck, they moved it around, but they couldn’t do anything meaningful with it.

They were the victims of a couple weird bounces here and there – the first Sharks goal was a weird one – but they also weren’t nearly good enough with their puck management or play without the puck. They have a lot of things to work on right now.

Backlund was noticeable in all three zones and anchored the Flames’ best line.

The shorthanded goal late in the second period to make it 3-1 was a killer for the Flames. They were a goal away from tying things up until they made too many mistakes.

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Percentage stats are 5v5.

Fun fact: the Flames have allowed the first goal in five or their first six games of the season.

The Flames have failed to convert their last nine power play opportunities. They generated 13 PP shots in Vegas, but managed just two against the Sharks.

The Flames (2-3-1) have a CBA-mandated day off tomorrow. They’re back in action on Tuesday evening when they host the Philadelphia Flyers.

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