JAGR & CREW HOST THE SENS
Flames winning streak ends with 6- 0 trouncing
Not even Jaromir Jagr’s debut Friday at the Scotiabank Saddledome could keep things from getting ugly.
Jagr drew huge cheers from the crowd before and during the game, but it wasn’t nearly enough for Calgary Flames (3-2-0), who were trounced 6-0 by the Ottawa Senators (2-0-2).
“The fans have been nice to me since I signed here,” said a disappointed Jagr after the setback. “Now it’s up to me to try to play the best hockey I can play for them.”
Codi Ceci, Mark Stone and Derick Brassard had a goal and an assist each for the Senators, while goalie Craig Anderson stopped all 25 shots he faced to record his first shutout of the season and 39th of his NHL career.
“They’re a transition team, that’s what they are,” said Calgary captain Mark Giordano. “They sit back in the neutral zone and wait for you to make a mistake and counterpunch. They did a good job of it, especially when they’re up.
“The momentum swings in the game, they grabbed them all.”
Mike Hoffman, Ryan Dzingel and Chris Wideman also scored for the visitors, while Kyle Turris had three helpers.
After starring in his first four games with the Flames, goalie Mike Smith had a rough outing. He gave up five goals on 22 shots before being replaced by Eddie Lack at 7:58 of the third period.
“I definitely feel bad, but ... as a team, we just let this one go now,” said Giordano, while adding the Flames have to switch their attentions toward the Vancouver Canucks Saturday at Rogers Arena.
“We can be mad for a bit, but we’ve got a game (Saturday), so we’ve got to win that one.”
Jagr agreed with Giordano’s assessment.
“That’s the good thing about it,” said Jagr, who started the game on a line with Sam Bennett and Kris Versteeg before also taking spins on the top trio with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.
“When you lose like that, you always have the chance to go back and we have the chance to go back (on Saturday). It was a tough night for us. I don’t think we played that bad, but we didn’t get any bounces.”
The 45-year-old veteran of 1,713 regular-season games finished with 13:27 in ice time and four shots on net to go with a hooking penalty late in the second period that prompted a chorus of boos toward the referees.
Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan decided to juggle his lines partway through the first period and moved Jagr up to play with Gaudreau and Monahan, while former Senator Curtis Lazar took the fan favourite’s spot with Bennett and Versteeg.
“You can see that (Jagr) provides us with zero-zone time and his strength on the stick and he makes plays, so encouraging step forward a little bit with his getting up to the condition he wants to be in,” said Gulutzan.
Jagr seemed to fit in well on the top line and even fired his first shot on net as a Flame with 5:11 left to go in the first.
Ceci then atoned for his earlier trip to the sin bin by taking a pass from Tom Pyatt and tucking a backhand shot past Smith with 44.8 seconds left on the clock.
After killing off a four-minute minor to Mikael Backlund for high-sticking late in the second period, Calgary’s penalty-killing unit had to go right back out due to a slashing penalty to Dougie Hamilton.
Just as the penalty to Hamilton expired, Brassard snapped a shot from the high slot past Smith, who was screened by Alexandre Burrows, to put Ottawa up 2-0 with 1:17 left in the second.
Then, with Jagr banished to the box, Hoffman one-timed a pass from Ceci past Smith to extend the visitor’s lead to 3-0 just 68 seconds into the final frame.