Quips and Quotes: Flames lose to Blues 3-1

The Calgary Flames lost to the St. Louis Blues by a 3-1 score on Saturday afternoon. Here are selected reactions from players and coaches following the game.

The Flames gave up a pair of goals at even strength and that was basically the difference in the game. The first Blues goal was a strange one, as the puck shot up into the air and landed with David Perron. A few seconds later, it was behind Mike Smith. Their third goal was similarly odd, a bit rebound from a far-off shot that ended up beating Smith.

“I don’t think anyone knew where the first puck was,” said Smith. “Everyone kind of lost it and all of a sudden it was on the guy’s tape. I kinda didn’t get set there and he beat me through the arm. The last one, it just changed direction totally on the way in. I was going to catch it and it hit me in the chest. Then it was a little cluster after that.”

Head coach Bill Peters pointed to the team’s play at five on five as the difference maker. He noted that the Flames never really got to playing their usual style of play at even strength, and pointed to some defensive issues leading to the third goal.

“We could’ve defended better,” said Peters. “The first one i haven’t really looked at it. Nobody knew where the puck was for the longest time and the next thing you know Perron ended up with the puck. The third one, in the neutral zone we could’ve handled a lot that better. I know that for a fact. On the entry it was two-on-two, so I would’ve liked to see that played differently.”

There’s an old saying that goes “you’ve got to hold a group accountable to their wins.” In other words, once a team has shown that they are capable of playing a certain way, they should be held to that standard.

After a game that saw the Flames extend their losing skid to three games – tying a season high – both the team’s head coach and captain pointed out some issues with the team’s play.

“I didn’t think we were very good with the puck,” said Peters. “I thought we played very slow. Didn’t connect the dots very well. Didn’t make very many plays. Didn’t establish a forecheck. Weren’t willing to put it behind them, go get it, be physical and establish an O-zone forecheck, some O-zone grind time. All-in-all, we probably didn’t love the way we played. But the reality is I thought they defended real well and played a good road game.”

Flames captain Mark Giordano had similar criticisms of his club’s performance.

“It wasn’t a good game,” said Giordano. “I thought second period we had a push, we had some chances, couldn’t tie the game up. But usually in the third we come out with a lot more than that. We couldn’t generate. It felt like we were trying to force things and trying to do a bit too much instead of just putting pucks there and trying to bang home a dirty one. They were willing to grind and it felt like we weren’t.”

It would be easy for everyone to dismiss the game’s result given it was an afternoon game and the last outing before a holiday break. But it’s clear that the team believes they were capable of more than they showed, and they were willing to point out the issues rather than shrug them off. With three games against conference opponents immediately after the break, the Flames can’t afford to let their skid last any longer than it already has.