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The good news is the Calgary Flames at least managed to score a goal on Wednesday night.
But there wasn’t much else to smile about in their first-ever trip to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Hockey Club. On an evening that could have been primed for celebrations, as captain Mikael Backlund played his 1,000th NHL game, the Flames instead looked lost and delirious for much of the contest, dropping a 5-1 decision to Utah.
The setback runs the Flames’ losing skid to four games.
The rundown
The HCs opened the scoring a few minutes into the first period off a nice puck-moving sequence, getting Dustin Wolf moving left to right and stacking some bodies in front of him. Michael Kesselring’s point shot found a way through after an Alex Kerfoot tip, giving Utah a 1-0 lead.
The Flames hung in there for the rest of the period, but another nice passing sequence off the rush in the dying moments of the first period was finished off by a nice Barrett Hayton wrister to give Utah a 2-0 lead.
First period shots were 13-8 Flames, while five-on-five scoring chances (via Natural Stat Trick) were 11-4 Utah (high-dangers were 3-2 Flames).
The Flames answered back early in the second period, scoring their first goal in roughly 100 minutes of game time. Justin Kirkland made a nice pass through the neutral zone to spring Anthony Mantha in one-on-one against a Utah defender. Mantha opted to shoot, beating Connor Ingram to cut the Utah lead to 2-1.
But 17 seconds after the Flames got within a goal, the HCs pulled away. Another quick passing sequence stacked bodies in front of Wolf, and rookie Maveric Lamoureux fired a point shot that beat Wolf through the screens to give Utah a 3-1 lead.
Later in the period, Utah got some additional insurance. With Mantha and Blake Coleman in the penalty box and Utah on a two-man advantage, Mikhail Sergachev blasted a shot past Wolf to give Utah a 4-1 lead.
Second period shots were 10-8 Flames, while five-on-five scoring chances were 11-1 Flames (high-dangers were 1-0 Flames).
Utah added a fifth goal in the third period on the power play. An initial shot was blocked, but it blooped right to Clayton Keller, who blasted the puck past Wolf to give Utah a 5-1 lead.
The Utahns held on for the victory.
Third period shots were 12-8 Utah, while five-on-five scoring chances were 4-3 Utah (high-dangers were 1-1).
Why the Flames lost
The common thread for the last few games has been that the Flames have looked bad when they’ve gotten away from their structure. Unfortunately, they really got away from their structure against Utah – as they did against Vegas – and they largely looked lost and scrambly in this one.
Their five-on-five play wasn’t all that good. Their power play wasn’t all that good. Their penalty kill wasn’t all that good. Their goaltending wasn’t all that good. The Flames needed one of those areas to be a positive difference-maker in this one; none of them were.
Red Warrior
Mantha scored a goal, so we’ll give him the honours.
Turning point
Giving up a goal 17 seconds after the Flames brought it back to within a goal was quite the gut-punch to whatever momentum the Flames were building early in the second period.
This and that
In addition to being Backlund’s 1,000th NHL game, Sam Honzek returned from the injury reserve after missing some time with an upper body injury.
The first power play unit featured Jonathan Huberdeau, Yegor Sharangovich, Nazem Kadri, Andrei Kuzmenko and MacKenzie Weegar. The second unit featured Mikael Backlund, Anthony Mantha, Connor Zary, Rasmus Andersson and one of Tyson Barrie or Blake Coleman.
Up next
The Flames (5-4-1) welcome Jacob Markstrom and the New Jersey Devils to the Saddledome on Friday night.
