FLAMES SMOTHERED BY BLUES
Calgary loses 4- 1 in St. Louis
For a fourth- straight season, the St. Louis Blues qualified for the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup playoffs. As for the Calgary Flames? Following Thursday’s 4- 1 loss at Scottrade Center, they’re still waiting on their post- season fate.
Luckily, they still sit third in the Pacific Division with a 42- 29- 7 record and 91 points. They’re still in a playoff position but after Thursday, they have to make their last four dates of the 2014- 15 regular season count.
And, if they get there, they’ll be crossing their fingers that they don’t face the Blues at any point.
“I think that St. Louis has the number of many teams,” said head coach Bob Hartley as the Flames finished the season series 0- 3. “Looking at the size and strength of that team, they’re not easy to play against.
“( Thursday) they were better than us and fully deserved the victory.”
Which was evident all over the post- game event summary, including shots on net ( 43- 18) and faceoffs ( 65- 35).
With only Sean Monahan beating Jake Allen — scoring his 30th marker of his second NHL campaign — they couldn’t generate anything else past the Blues’ backup netminder.
On the other side, Jonas Hiller allowed an easy one to Jaden Schwartz only 1: 16 into the contest. Calgary fell behind 2- 0 on a Blues’ power play after Brandon Bollig was ejected and given a five- minute major for boarding at the end of the opening frame. The power play trickled into the second period and it only took 23 seconds for the Blues to score.
Hiller has now allowed goals within the first 10 minutes of the last three games. In Monday’s 5- 3 win over the Dallas Stars, Jason Spezza scored only 40 seconds in. In Sunday’s 5- 2 victory against the Nashville Predators, Roman Josi scored 6: 17 into the game.
“It was a tough one to give up,” said Hiller of the first goal. “They caught me right between taking a pass away and taking a shot. It went off my blocker and in. That’s definitely not the way you want to start ... especially against a team that plays pretty solid in their own end.”
The Flames had two power play opportunities in the first 10 minutes of the third — Kevin Shattenkirk when he took down Mason Raymond and on Berglund when he clipped Johnny Gaudreau in the mask with his stick — but they couldn’t capitalize.
The back- breaker would come with 3: 15 remaining in the game thanks to a wraparound by Berglund which was tapped in by Jori Lehtera. Berglund also added an empty netter.
They lost Bollig with 2: 12 left in the first period who delivered a hit on Barret Jackson and left his face bleeding when he made contact with the boards. Immediately, after Bollig dropped the gloves with Robert Bortuzzo. Jackman returned to action in the second period.
“I obviously wasn’t intending to hurt anyone,” Bollig said afterwards.
“I don’t think that’s the type of player I am at all. It was a situation where I was on the forecheck and he was in a vulnerable position. I was finishing my check and there’s plenty of instances where a guy doesn’t hit his head off the glass or plenty of things ... that’s a hit that happens quite a bit and guys don’t get hurt.
“It’s unfortunate, we’ll wait and see what happens at this point. But there was definitely no intent to injure by any means.”
Later, Hartley said this: “It was the right call.”
It wound up leading to the Blues’ second goal when Backlund picked the wrong time to blow a tire in the neutral zone as Stastny picked up the puck.
Masterfully, the newly formed trio of Schwartz, David Backes, and Stastny spread out in Calgary’s end on the man- advantage and set up an opportunity to tap one between Jonas Hiller’s legs.
Monahan, with his tip on Jiri Hudler’s shot, became the youngest player in Flames’ history to reach 30 goals. The 20- year- old’s milestone marker also put Calgary within one with 3: 35 gone in the second period.
ICE CHIPS: D Kris Russell set a new NHL single- season blocked shots record on Thursday with 274 heading into the game, besting Anton Volchenkov’s record of 273 set in 2006- 07 ... Sam Bennett and the Kingston Frontenacs were swept in four games by the North Bay Battalion and were eliminated from OHL playoffs on Thursday. Stay tuned to where the Flames prospect ends up — either with the big club or with the AHL’s Adirondack Flames.
Survey any National Hockey League player or coach and they’ll tell you that scoring one goal — let alone, 30 goals — is a hard thing to do.
Especially in the 2014- 15 season. Especially in the springtime. And, especially with the way the NHL has evolved from a technological scouting standpoint.
So, the fact Sean Monahan reached that benchmark on Thursday and Jiri Hudler is one goal away ( and likely to pot 30 before the season’s over) means a lot. Monahan also becomes the Flames’ first 30- goal since 2011- 12.
But no one said it was an easy process.
“For sure,” said Matt Stajan, who has been in the NHL for well over a decade. “You look at the league leaders in points, goals, everything. It’s down. I think just the way teams play, everything is so structured. The goalies are as good as they’ve ever been.
“I think if you can get to 30, it’s a pretty big accomplishment. Not many guys will this year.”
Heading into Thursday’s action, Hudler and Monahan were sitting Nos. 12 and 13 in the NHL scoring race, respectively, and were the only two players at 29 goals.
Five players were at 28 including Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn. Eleven others have already hit the 30- goal mark including Alex Ovechkin at 50 ( which is impressive in its’ own right) and Zach Parise at 30.
Sidney Crosby had 26. Mike Cammalleri and Patrick Kane had 27. Jonathan Toews had 25.
Most teams only have a halfdozen games or so remaining in the regular season. Time will tell if they hit the milestone.
But it’s interesting to note that in the season following the 2004- 05 lockout, there were 47 players who scored 30 or more goals. Last year? There were 21. “There probably used to be a lot more 30- and 40- goal scorers in the league than there are this year,” said Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman. “In the whole league, scoring is down. What’s the leading scorer have, 60 or 70some points? ( Sidney Crosby had 80 while Ovechkin had 77 heading into Thursday’s action). In the past there have been lots of guys over 100 points.
“League- wide, scoring is down with the exception of Ovechkin. But to get to 30 now is a pretty big deal, I think.” A big deal to the Flames, too. The last player to score 30 was Jarome Iginla, who counted 32 in 2011- 12 and 30 or more goals in the six seasons before that.
Besides the former Calgary captain, the Flames have only had three other 30- goal scorers since the 2004- 05 lockout: Kristian Huselius ( 34) and Daymond Langkow ( 33) in 2006- 07, Langkow ( 30) again in 2007- 08 and Mike Cammalleri ( 39) in his first tour of duty with the Flames in 2008- 09.
And while it’s looked relatively easy for Monahan, in his second year in the NHL, and for Hudler, a veteran of 600 games who has never scored 30 in an 82- game campaign, the forwards assure you it isn’t easy.
“Not at all,” Monahan said. “You look at the guys who played back in the day. Obviously the goalies were all over the place. It’s much tougher to score now, especially at this time of the year ...
“Goalies are better, defencemen are smarter, but putting the puck in the net is tough.”
Making things easier, Monahan admitted, is chemistry formed with Hudler and rookie Johnny Gaudreau, who had 22 this year heading into Thursday’s game at St. Louis.
Of course, scoring from the Flames’ top trio is a foregone conclusion. They know that. “With the opportunity we have on this team, we’ve got to produce and we’ve gotta put numbers up,” Monahan said. “We have to put the puck in the net and have to get the job done.
“I think, right now, we’re having fun doing it and it’s not something we think about.”
But, as far as the Flames are concerned, they’re lucky to have two potential 30- goal men in their backyard.
“They’ve really caught fire,” said Wideman. “They’ve got some chemistry going and have been making some great plays in tight areas. It’s been pretty impressive to watch in the last stretch here. They’re one of the most dangerous lines in the game right now.”