Flames find positives despite losing effort
Calgary’s three-game winning streak comes to end in afternoon tilt against Rangers
With the hours and hours of coverage leading up to Super Bowl LI, no one would blame you if you switched channels.
But if you missed the third period of Sunday’s Calgary Flames game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, you would have missed the majority of the action. Scoring action, that is. In the final 20 minutes, the Rangers (33-18-1) broke open a 1-1 scoreless tie and pumped three goals past Brian Elliott to capture this one 4-3.
“I thought we played really well,” said Flames forward Troy Brouwer who was one of two goal scorers in the third period. “We had stints when we were in their zone and created opportunities. But at the end of the day, we can feel good about our game but we didn’t get any points.”
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Flames (2725-3) in Calgary’s second game of a three-game road swing.
Chalk it up to a learning experience for the Flames who, even with the loss, are still in the second wild card playoff spot with 57 points.
The Rangers, as they found out in a 4-1 loss on Nov. 12 at Calgary, are an experienced team.
“This is a team that’s been to the Stanley Cup finals two years ago, the Conference finals three years in a row,” Brouwer said. “They’re a team that’s experienced in the playoffs and knows how to win. Maybe there’s a few things we can take from their game — how they stay patient, how they get in on the forecheck and wait for their opportunities. That’s what they did (Sunday).”
Give them credit, the Flames stuck with the Rangers all game.
There were no large momentum swings or long periods of time where they let New York, the eighth-best team in the NHL, take it to them.
“We gave up three chances and they scored three times,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan. “I thought they made a push and I thought we responded well, but the fourth goal hurt us.”
The Flames struck some luck at the end of the second period as it appeared Rick Nash had scored a power-play goal thanks to a shot from the top of the circle — with 0.0 seconds left on the clock.
But, after referee Kelly Sutherland reviewed the play, the goal was waved off as the officials reviewed that time had expired.
With the Madison Square Garden crowd livid, the action was tied 1-1 heading into the third period.
That didn’t stop the Rangers who scored with 1:54 elapsed in the third period — a tough goal for Elliott to give up, who struggled to get square to the shooter Michael Grabner.
Brouwer replied for the Flames, which is what playoff teams do — kill the opposition’s momentum with a goal of their own.
Then, with two back-to-back goals from Chris Kreider (the puck hit Dennis Wideman’s leg and went in) and Jesper Fast (a Jyrki Jokipakka turnover by the net), Calgary was suddenly fighting a two-goal deficit.
Matthew Tkachuk cut into the lead 1:01 after Fast’s goal — a deflection on Mikeal Backlund’s shot which cleanly beat Henrik Lundqvist.
But that was all the ‘King’ would give them.
Elliott gave up four goals on 32 St. Louis Blues forward Robby Fabbri will miss the rest of the season because of a left knee injury. The team announced Sunday Fabbri is out with an ACL injury and will be back for 2017-18 training camp. In corresponding roster moves, St. Louis recalled Magnus Paajarvi and shots and, given that Gulutzan and the Flames are running with a “win and you’re in” approach to their goaltenders, it’s likely that Chad Johnson will start on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kenny Agostino from Chicago of the American Hockey League. Fabbri was checked into the boards by Pittsburgh’s Carter Rowney during the first period Saturday. The 21-year-old Fabbri had 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points in 51 games this season.
Dougie Hamilton put the visitors on the board with a power-play goal at the 6:59 mark Rick Nash replied nearly two minutes later with a power play marker of his own.