Flames’ Gulutzan fumes over third line
Despite team having important parts in place, depth scoring has disappeared, coach laments
NEW YORK — At the tail end of an angry rant by Glen Gulutzan, the Calgary Flames head coach wasn’t in the mood to mince words Friday night.
Asked about the performance of his depth forwards in a 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers, he was curt.
“Our third line ... I didn’t see them,” he spat, before making a quick exit from Madison Square Garden for a Saturday off in Manhattan.
It’s a familiar theme for a Flames club that saw its third line go a remarkable 16 games to start the season without a goal.
Not even a single point in that span. It all seemed to be remedied when Mark Jankowski moved Sam Bennett to the wing and teamed up with Jaromir Jagr for a trio that suddenly helped take pressure off the Flames’ top two vaunted lines.
A goal in Game 16 energized the group, led to a Bennett snipe one game later and got the ball rolling for a unit that was, for a time, one of the most exciting on the club.
No more.
For quite some time now, the trio has been ... well ... invisible.
Again.
Maybe it’s time to bring ol’ Jags back.
We jest.
Jankowski, who had Flames fans abuzz early on, is mired in an 11-game scoring slump that prompted a stint in the press box four games back.
Bennett has one goal in 12 outings, which is the only point the two have combined for in that span. Unacceptable.
Gulutzan’s post-game displeasure Friday also included calling Bennett’s costly holding penalty late in the game “dumb.”
The infraction led to the Rangers’ winning goal. To be fair, Bennett’s penchant for bad penalties had been curbed of late.
The coach’s confidence in them is dwindling, as is reflected in their diminished icetime.
In Chicago, where the Flames kicked off their six-game road trip, Bennett played a season-low nine minutes.
For the most part, Garnet Hathaway has been riding shotgun with the duo, picking up a lone assist in
11 games, before giving way to Troy Brouwer of late.
Now Brouwer is gone for a least a week with a fractured cheek, re-elevating Hathaway.
Make no mistake, the fortunes of this team — any team, really — rest in the hands of the top two lines and goaltending.
In that vein, the Flames will be fine. However, help along the way is required from a once-promising bunch that has disappeared, making no impact on the scoresheet or on the ice where, at the very least, they used to involved themselves physically or create the odd chance.
Now they are being outplayed, plain and simple, by the Flames fourth unit, which was the best line the club had against the Rangers.
Ryan Lomberg, Matt Stajan and Curtis Lazar all drew penalties with their tenacity and pressure, leading to Lazar’s first goal of the year and Lomberg’s first NHL point.
“I thought our fourth line played well — they gave us energy, they scored a goal, they hit ...” said Gulutzan, whose club plays the host New York Islanders in Brooklyn on Sunday.
Granted, it hasn’t been often he’s been able to say any of that about his muckers.
While it looked, for a time, Bennett had started to find his way, he’s back to being a frustrating talent the Flames so often can’t seem to squeeze enough out of.
Yes, he kills penalties, as does Jankowski, but that unit has also had a sub-par year.
Perhaps too much was expected too soon from Jankowski, who you knew would have growing pains.
The big centre had so much hype and excitement surrounding his arrival nine games in, following a solid AHL rookie season and a training camp in which he earned what should have been a season-opening NHL gig.
He worked hard to continue impressing in the AHL before a promotion had him, at one point, looking like he might be on pace for a 20-goal season as an NHL rookie.
Alas, in the dog days of a long season, he’s been stuck at eight goals and eight assists for a month. Bennett has seven and 11.
Not enough considering their talent and icetime.
Gulutzan needs more.
And he hasn’t been afraid to say so.