LACK OF SUPPORT
Flames fall to Bruins despite stellar outing from
Calgary Flames rookie netminder David Rittich was last spotted rushing toward the exit.
Rittich is the last guy to blame for Monday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins, but he was steamed after surrendering Brad Marchand’s gamewinning breakaway goal.
Despite a first-star performance, he didn’t want any credit.
“I’m not happy,” Rittich fumed after his 30-save showing. “We got just one point, so I’m mad. We should have two, because we had the chances.”
Flames defenceman TJ Brodie was last spotted rushing to catch Marchand on the backcheck. He couldn’t.
Brodie tried a cute pass in the offensive zone during the three-on-three session, a backhander that was picked off and quickly turned into a breakaway in the opposite direction.
He had the best — or the worst — vantage point as Marchand finished a slick deke by sliding the puck through Rittich’s five-hole.
“Obviously, tonight is on me,” Brodie said. “I was trying to pass to Johnny (Gaudreau). I could have passed to (Sean Monahan) or shot it. It’s definitely one of those things where you look at it now and wish I did something different.”
The Flames will be next spotted rushing to Las Vegas and then Arizona. Thank goodness. They’re one of the NHL’s top travelling troupes.
On home ice, it’s been a much different story.
Their coaching staff preached the importance of a strong start in Monday’s matinee against the Bruins.
They mustered only four shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes.
If not for their masked man, it might have been over by then.
“A huge bounce-back for Rittich,” praised Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan. “(The Bruins) are a hard team to beat. Look across the league — not many teams are beating them. You can’t really beat them without goaltending, and we got it. He gave us a chance. We got great goaltending.”
It was a statement game of sorts for Rittich, who is the sudden-starter as Mike Smith recovers from a lower-body injury but was hooked after allowing four goals on 15 shots in Saturday’s 6-3 shellacking from the Florida Panthers.
Marchand’s overtime snipe came on the third breakaway that the 25-yearold faced on Family Day.
On one, he robbed Ryan Spooner with a quick glove.
He denied David Pastrnak with a sprawling toe save on the next all-alone opportunity.
Rittich’s best work also included a heck-no on Marchand as the Bruins star batted a cross-crease pass out of mid-air in the second.
“That’s why I love him in the net — he battles,” said Flames left-winger Morgan Klimchuk, who was summoned this weekend from the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat and logged his NHL debut against the B’s. “Every time he makes a save or anytime he gives one up, you can tell that he wants to win more than anything.
“So I knew he was going to have a good game and I think he held us in there a lot of the time.”
Pastrnak was the only shooter to solve Rittich in regulation, cashing on the short side after Selke Trophy frontrunner Patrice Bergeron pestered Flames winger Michael Frolik into a giveaway along the boards in the first period.
The Flames were desperate for a spark after that snooze-worthy opening stanza, and it was — surprise, surprise — fan-favourite Matthew Tkachuk who provided with a power-play tally early in the second.
Monahan’s wrister was dead-ended by one of Zdeno Chara’s XXLsized boots, but the snarky sophomore was quick to clean up the leftovers.
With a helper on Tkachuk’s man-advantage marker, Gaudreau hit the 50-assist plateau for the first time in his career.
Opposite of Rittich, Bruins starter Tuukka Rask fin- David Rittich ished with 28 saves, five of those in overtime.
According to their internal count, the Flames had five scoring chances during the bonus period.
The Bruins had one. Marchand made it count.
“(Rittich) made some big saves for us,” Tkachuk said. “It just sucks we couldn’t pull out the win for him.”
Next up for the Flames is their first visit to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s also the first Mom’s Trip in franchise history, so they’ll have some of their biggest fans in attendance for Tuesday’s roll-of-the-dice against the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights (8:30 p.m., Sportsnet Flames/ Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
Ice chips: Klimchuk, a local lad and first-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, logged 7:25 in his debut at hockey’s highest level. His pinch-me moment? “Probably when Chara ran me over once,” the 22-year-old said. “You think you can stand him up a bit. But no.”