Bishop absolutely divine as Stars blank Flames in Big D
Calgary’s Gillies outduelled for once by ‘unbelievable’ veteran counterpart
STARS 2, FLAMES 0
DALLAS In three previous starts at hockey’s highest level, Calgary Flames rookie netminder Jon Gilles was unbeaten.
On this night, at the other end of the rink, his crease competition was simply unbeatable.
The Flames seemed to be shooting at a brick wall in Tuesday ’s 2-0 shutout loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center, with Ben Bishop racking up 38 saves in a first-star performance for the home side.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s your third start of the season or whatever, you never like to get outplayed like that from a goaltending perspective,” said Gillies in the losing lockerroom. “So I wish I could have come up with a couple more saves.
“Bishop played really well. In a game like that where the chances are as lopsided as that, I really would have liked to have come up with a couple more saves to keep the game even, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
With all-star masked man Mike Smith sidelined by a lower-body injury, the hot topic has been whether the Flames can keep pace in the Western Conference playoff race with two inexperienced goalies.
On nights that they can’t beat the other guy, it’s a moot point. The Flames miss Smith, sure. On Tuesday, they also missed the net on too many scoring chances.
They missed a golden opportunity to grab an early lead when they failed to cash in during 1:55 of fiveon-three power-play time midway through the first.
In 38 shots on target, they never missed Bishop.
“Their goalie played an unbelievable game,” said Flames captain Mark Giordano, who fired a game-high seven shots on goal and had five others blocked by Bishop’s support staff. “We had a lot of looks, all of us. A lot of us had some Grade A scoring chances that we’d like to see go in the net.
“I just thought even the ones he didn’t see tonight were hitting him and the rebounds were going to places where we couldn’t get to them. We have to find a way to score, that’s it. That was the difference.”
It could have been different if the Flames capitalized when irritant Antoine Roussel (interference) and defenceman Marc Methot (delay of game) were penalized just five seconds apart in Tuesday’s opening stanza.
They came oh so close, with Dougie Hamilton clanking the crossbar, but the Stars survived that scare.
“As good as (Bishop) was, we needed to get something on that five-on-three to get us going,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan after the defeat in Dallas. “What it did to their bench, with their crowd obviously recognizing a good kill, I thought they got a little energy from it. Our bench didn’t sag. But when you get out of a five-on-three, I know it gives the other team a boost.
“We had some good looks … but nothing would go.”
Instead, the Stars struck first, with winger Devin Shore — no relation to the Flames’ deadline-day acquisition Nick Shore — doing the honours.
Shore evaded a stick check by Hamilton and sold Gillies on a fake shot, leaving plenty of daylight on the blocker side.
The Stars’ stud centres combined for a power-play tally in the second frame, with Jamie Benn spying Tyler Seguin all alone in the slot.
Seguin doesn’t waste many of those. And he didn’t, squeezing a shot between Gillies’ mask and his glove to pad the lead.
Gulutzan praised his own puckstopper, but the 24-year-old Gillies now has a blemish on his bigleague resume — he’s 3-1 in his career, with one win last spring and two more in Smith’s absence.
“At the end of the day, Bishop made two more saves than I did,” Gillies said. “So I have to look at that and get better for next game.”
The Flames cap their twogames-in-as-many-nights quickie with Wednesday ’s clash against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center (7:30 p.m., Sportsnet 360/ Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
“I think we’re at the point in the year where two (losses) in a row really hurts you,” Giordano said before the late-night flight to the Mile High City. “We weren’t going to win 19 in a row and it sucks to lose, but (Wednesday) we have to find a way to grind one out.”