The Calgary Flames came to the Twin Cities on Sunday evening hoping to find their offensive swagger after suffering a shutout on home ice at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday evening.

Well, that did not happen.

The Flames had some looks but couldn’t bury their chances en route to their second consecutive shutout loss, this one a 2-0 setback to the Minnesota Wild.

The opening 20 minutes was pretty back and forth, with both teams having good chances. Neither team was able to bury them.

First period shots were 11-8 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 10-9 Wild and high-danger scoring chances were 3-3.

The Flames had some dangerous looks in the offensive zone in the second period. Jonathan Huberdeau looked like he scored about five minutes into the period, but it was wiped out on a delayed call for too-many-men. (The bench minor was pretty flagrant, too, as the Flames had roughly seven guys on the ice at once.)

They also drew a power play later in the period, but Matt Coronato took a high-sticking minor on the initial face-off to wipe out the remainder of their man advantage.

The Flames had a strong look on the Wild net, but the Wild disrupted the rush and went the other way. Once in the Flames’ zone, they moved the puck well and scored. The Flames defenders opted to play the body on the sequence, allowing a passing play from Joel Eriksson Ek to Marcus Johansson to Matt Boldy. Boldy received the pass in the net-front area and beat Devin Cooley five-hole to give the home side a 1-0 lead.

Second period shots were 12-7 Flames. 5v5 scoring chances were 8-3 Flames and high-danger scoring chances were 4-3 Flames.

The third period was similarly even-keeled.

The Flames had a pair of power plays. On one, midway through the period, the Flames had one shot. On the second, with about six and a half minutes left, they had zero shots and the final 34 seconds of the power play was wiped out by a MacKenzie Weegar tripping minor.

The Flames pulled Cooley for the extra attacker late, but to no avail, and Kirill Kaprizov added an empty-net goal to give the Wild a 2-0 lead.

The Wild held on for a 2-0 victory.

Third period shots were 12-4 Flames. 5v5 scoring chances were 5-2 Flames and high-danger scoring chances were 2-0 Wild.

The Wild and the Flames both generated about the same amount of good scoring chances, and they were of roughly comparable quality. The Flames just were not able to bury their chances, while Minnesota was able to take advantage of a Flames tactical lapse to score their lone goal, and then kept the Flames to the outside for much of the remainder of the game.

Devin Cooley was really good and gave the Flames a chance.

I hate to pick on a particular group, but man, the Flames needed their power play to be better in this hockey game. They had two third period power plays when they were down a goal. They had played themselves into a position where a power play goal would probably get them at least a point in the standings. In two third period advantages, they generated just a single shot on goal.

They need their special teams to help them out.

Kevin Bahl was back after missing Friday’s game with an unspecified injury. Devin Cooley made his third start of the season. Zayne Parekh missed this game after suffering an upper-body injury on Friday night.

The last time the Flames beat a goaltender to score a goal was 8:24 into the second period of Wednesday’s game against Columbus, when Adam Klapka scored. That’s 151:36 since they’ve scored on a goalie, and 120:49 since they’ve scored in any manner.

The Flames’ power play went 0-for-3, dropping to an 11.7% success rate on the season. That’s good for 32nd overall in the NHL.

Join Cami Kepke and myself right after the game for After Burner!

The Flames (4-11-2) are headed to St. Louis, where they face the Blues on Tuesday night.

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