Johnny’s down — and so is everybody else
Hometown fans express displeasure after Flames sleepwalk through a shutout loss
On a night when most Calgary Flames could have been demoted to the fourth line, it was the oddest of choices who ended up there.
In the midst of a second period in which the Flames fell behind 4-0 to the second-worst team in hockey, Johnny Gaudreau found himself on Matt Stajan’s checking line with Grindin’ Garnet Hathaway.
When asked what the Flames’ former leading scorer did to earn the punishment, head coach Glen Gulutzan was short.
“He turned the puck over in the neutral zone there,” Gulutzan said, clearly unhappy with No. 13’s play. “We’re trying to play direct when it was 1-0.”
With word he had a meeting with Gaudreau earlier in the day, Gulutzan was asked if such a turnover was discussed with him.
“We’ve talked to all our guys about playing a certain way,” he said.
Asked if such a move seemed extreme for a playmaking forward whose forte is creativity and taking chances, he bristled.
“I don’t think it’s extreme,” he said. “We need points. It was 1-0.” Will he be back on the top line alongside Sean Monahan and Troy Brouwer Wednesday night when the lads host Philadelphia?
“I’ll worry about the game tape tonight,” he said.
Gaudreau was not made available after the game. To be continued.
Unlike in Montreal a few weeks back when Gulutzan blew his stack after a lacklustre effort, the Flames coach was surprisingly measured and calm following a 5-0 humiliation at home against the Arizona Coyotes on Monday.
Amazing, as this one is bound to leave a mark. It’s the kind of loss that can ultimately squash a club’s playoff chances as this race is bound to come down to the last night or two in the west. Losing home games to bottom feeders has a way of coming back to haunt teams.
On this night, the concern coming off of the Flames’ mandatory five-day break was returning to the ice with jump and intensity. The Flames passed that test well with a 19-shot opening period that saw Monahan and Kris Versteeg combine for nine shots while Matthew Tkachuk and Gaudreau provided solid energy.
They out-chanced the visitors 7-2, yet left down 1-0.
Twenty minutes later, the Flames were down 4-0, Gaudreau was down to the fourth line and everyone in the building was so down on the hosts they gave poor ol’ Brian Elliott the Bronx cheer when he steered a dump-in wide of the net.
Fact was, this time it wasn’t exactly his mess, as he replaced starter Chad Johnson in the third, only to give up a goal two minutes in to see the ’Yotes go up 5-0.
Here’s the biggest crime of the night: There was no push back. On the tail end of a season series with Arizona full of emotion, the Flames showed none in the final frame.
Instead of showing the sort of intensity the fans deserved to see, the lads were content to go quietly into the night. No rough stuff, no fight. Not the sort of effort or response playoff teams are made of.
“You always want to see pushback,” Stajan said, head hung low in a quiet dressing room.
“I think we just didn’t have it. It doesn’t matter who you play in this league, there are no easy games. We weren’t bad in the first and were down 1-0, and then we came out flat. We’ve got to clean this up and get back at it.
“It’s a learning game for us. Unfortunately, we gave up two points — we can’t be happy with that — but we have to move forward.”
Demonstrating just how mentally weak this bunch was on the night, the Flames actually lined up six men and a goalie for a faceoff to start a five-on-three power play before one of the players noticed just before the puck dropped and raced off.
With nine minutes left, a good chunk of what was left of the crowd openly booed the Flames for its latest in a series of icings. At the final buzzer, the boos got louder.
While Coyotes netminder Mike Smith had plenty to say in a game that saw him save all 27 shots, the Flames are to blame for the type of effort that saw them lose four in a row late last month.
So much for all the good feelings the Flames went into the break with after winning four of five, including a shootout win over the defending Stanley Cup champs in Pittsburgh.
Damaging to say the least, humiliating to be completely frank, and now their star player has questions to answer his coach and the media. Not the ideal way to start the final stretch of a tight playoff race.