Postgame: Falling Down

A total dog of a game tonight saw the Flames drop a 3-1 decision to the Edmonton Oilers. That might be all she wrote for the Flames this season, as they give 2 points to Edmonton for the second time in about a month.

You could tell the Flames had played the night before as they came out very sluggish to start the game-and the Oilers took advantage, keeping possession of the puck for most of the first 10 minutes. Leland Irving had to make quite a few stops in the early going, but he was solid until the 10-minute mark as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins put a snap shot past a screened Irving to open the scoring. The Oilers would add another before the end of the period, as Jordan Eberle snuck one short side past Irving with just over 5 minutes remaining. Earlier in the period, Cory Sarich absolutely destroyed Taylor Hall as Hall lost an edge going into contact. Hall did not return. The Flames were outchanced in the period (2-6) but tied the Oilers in shots (9-9).

The second period was a much more tepid affair, devoid of the big hits and dramatic scoring of the first. The only event of note was Mark Giordano’s rather fluky goal at 17:47 of the period-finding the back of the net via a strange deflection off of Ladislav Smid’s stick. The period was back and forth, with the Oilers winning the shot count 8-10 but the two teams tied in chances, 4-4.

The Flames, needing to come out strong in the third, decided to lay an egg instead. Edmonton would score one more goal in the third, with Nugent-Hopkins getting his second of the night and third point of the game-and that would be it for the Flames. While the team was able to keep it close on the scoreboard, Edmonton completely shut them down otherwise-the Flames generated the same amount of shots as I have eyes in the period. They were also outchanced by a count of 1-7.

1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

2. Jordan Eberle

3. Teemu Hartakinen

Not much left to say about this one-you either watched it and were disgusted by the effort or you missed it-and you should be grateful for that. Losing 2 points to a bottom feeder should be unacceptable but it seems like it’s almost commonplace this season. The Flames’ next game is Sunday against Columbus-coverage is on the FAN 960 and Sportsnet. Game time is 7 Mountain.