On Saturday afternoon, the Calgary Flames ran Carolina’s show in the first period. They didn’t win. On Tuesday night, they ran Pittsburgh’s show in the first period. Once again, they did not win.
Speaking to the media following the game, interim coach Geoff Ward noted that the team needs to work on their game management.
“There’s lots of positives we can take out of the hockey game,” said Ward. “But the biggest thing for us is when we get into situations where it’s crunch time we have to stay composed and we have to manage the game a little bit better.”
Ward cited the two empty net goals as being situations where the Flames could’ve made plays (and should’ve made plays), but wasn’t able to stay composed and execute with the puck. Later on, he elaborated on some of the tendencies in the past two games that allowed them to lose momentum.
“I thought both second periods, the last two games, we started turning more pucks over in the neutral zone,” said Ward. “And as a result, we can’t get our defensemen off. And they get tired, which is what happened on the second goal, we had some tired defensemen out there, we weren’t able to get the puck in to get the change and as a result they’re out there long, they’ve got no energy left to play down low defensively. It’s little things like that. Like I said, it all comes back to game management.”
Travis Hamonic and Oliver Kylington were stranded on the ice for 1:22 before the second Penguins goal. Milan Lucic was able to switch off for Matthew Tkachuk as the near-side winger during the long change situation, but Dillon Dube and Derek Ryan were also out for over a minute before the goal.
Another solid Talbot start
Flames netminder Cam Talbot continues to give his club rock solid goaltending. He allowed a pair of goals in a span of 82 seconds in the second period, but it’s hard to pin the loss on his efforts.
“I don’t think you can really fault our goaltender on what happened tonight,” declared Ward, following a joke about run support.
On the first goal, Penguins defender John Marino wanders in from the slot on an expiring power play and catches the far corner of the net with his shot.
“They just kind of stick a guy in front,” noted Talbot. “It’s nothing they don’t do on a regular basis. Guy made a good shot far side when I’m looking short side around the screen.”
Usually, right shooting defenders try to pick the short side. Marino? He mixed it up, and got rewarded.
On the second goal, the Flames got caught out on the ice for awhile following their penalty kill. Here’s Talbot’s view on a show that squirted through him.
“They capitalized right at the end of that first power play and very next shift, they use that momentum and kind of buried us in our zone, we couldn’t get guys off and they capitalized on us when we were a little tired, running around in our own end. Sometimes that’s when you need a save there and that one kinda goes right through me, six-hole, I just couldn’t squeeze it enough.”
Sam Bennett’s back!
Playing his first game in a month after suffering an injury, Bennett played with Tobias Rieder and Michael Frolik on the fourth line. Bennett played 8:58, the least of all of Calgary’s skaters, but that was probably on purpose as the team eases him back in.
He had two hits and drew a penalty. The Flames didn’t do much with the power play he generated, but that’s not his fault. Ward praised the fourth line’s performance and it’s reasonable to suspect they may get leaned on more as the Flames play three more games before the holiday break.
