The Calgary Flames played their second night of a back-to-back in Colorado on Saturday, but they were unable to pull another rabbit out of their hat in the third period as they dropped the contest to the Avalanche by a score of 3-1.
It was a relatively slow first two periods for the Flames, as the Avalanche controlled most of the game, but in the third period, the Flames took over the game but were not able to find the back of the net. The slow start cost the Flames as the game-winning goal was scored early in the second period and the Flames simply could not recover.
The third period was promising
After a very sluggish first and second periods, the Flames came out of the gates flying in the third. If they had one bounce go their way, they could have come close to tying the game. According to NaturalStatTrick, the Flames controlled 58.33% of the scoring chances and had 5 high-danger scoring chances in the third period. For context, the Flames had 5 high-danger scoring chances in the first and second periods combined.
Adam Ruzicka had a great chance but couldn’t beat Ivan Prosvetov, but even when they could get a puck past him, like Andrew Mangiapane, they couldn’t beat the post. They were skating quickly, hemming the Avalanche in their own end of shifts on end, and were creating chances. That is all you can ask for from a team that is battling from behind; obviously outside of scoring of course.
If the Flames can carry that type of play over to Monday night against the Vegas Golden Knights, the result very well may be different.
The power play was abysmal, again
The Flames had four opportunities on the man advantage against the Avalanche in this one, and like it has been for the past little while now, the power play generated nothing and the Flames did not convert on any of their chances. The flow is not there, the creativity is not there, the sense of urgency is not there, and it is predictable as can be. Combine all those things together and you have a power play that sits at the bottom of the league.
They are not going to score on every chance they get, but at some point, the Flames are going to have to start converting on these opportunities. Especially if they want any chance of winning games considering the gauntlet of opponents they are currently going through.
Unfortunately, it still looks like the same power play that Kirk Muller was trotting out last year. I cannot see any major changes that Marc Savard has made and he will have to go to the drawing board quickly to get it figured out. I wonder if a certain Matt Coronato and his lethal shot can help fix things, just a thought (as he scored once again in a Wranglers win on Saturday).
The starts have to be better
Once again, the Flames gave up the first goal of the game, and it has been happening way too much as of late. It is not the end of the world to give up the first goal every now and then, but when it happens every single game, then something has to change. Battling from behind the eight-ball every night is tough to do, and when you are a team that is starved to score like the Flames can be, then you cannot be trailing by one to two goals to begin every game.
Dan Vladar had the team’s back tonight through the slow start, even if the second goal should have been saved (tough pinch by our “best defensemen” on that one). He stood tall before the Flames got their feet under them and he gave them a chance to get back into the contest, so I have to give credit where credit is due.
Moving on to the next one
The incredibly tough stretch of games continues Monday night for the Flames as they take on the defending Stanley Cup Champions, so another tough test awaits. Let’s see which Flames team we get out of the gates in that one.
Photo via Colorado Avalance on X
