FLAMES COMEBACK FALLS SHORT
DESPITE BEING OUTSHOT 35-13, CALGARY PUSHES SAN JOSE INTO OVERTIME
Bob Hartley is a man rarely stumped.
Yet this bunch of hockey players, on this night, left him shrugging his shoulders.
“I (asked) Marty Gelinas, ‘Should I change my lines?’” said the Calgary Flames skipper, recounting an early-game conversation with his assistant coach.
“And he said, ‘Yes.’ I started looking and I couldn’t find three guys that I felt had decent energy to get going. The first period, it’s starting to be a problem for our group. We addressed it — obviously, it didn’t get through.
“That’s by far the biggest spanking we took in the first period. We didn’t touch the puck. The only way we could’ve touched the puck is if we would’ve had two pucks out there.
“Then in the second period, we started to get going ... but not that much.”
To their credit, the Calgarians — impossibly outplayed through 40 minutes (2-0 on the scoreboard, 28-6 on the shot clock) — did rally.
Two third-period strikes — Kris Russell (on the power play, thanks to Sean Monahan’s faceoff win over Joe Thornton), Michael Cammalleri (on a rebound from Chris Butler’s slapper) — carried them into overtime.
But Brad Stuart happily spoiled the comeback, tapping a short-range puck under the pads of goalie Reto Berra to ensure a 3-2 decision for the San Jose Sharks in National Hockey League action Tuesday at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Asked to assess the game, Hartley had been dumbfounded.
“First of all we have to define — what’s a game?” he said. “I saw three games ... and I saw two different teams. In the third, we were desperate and I thought we saw our good ol’ team again.
“But if it’s not for Reto Berra, the Sharks can get on the plane after the first period and they already have the two points.”
No doubt, the opening stanza did reek.
The Sharks put 17 shots on net — Logan Couture’s and Patrick Marleau’s whistled in — while the loafing locals rustled up only three. Put another way? Flames defenceman T.J. Brodie was forced to block more first-period pucks (four) than Sharks netminder Alex Stalock.
“Yeah, it was strange,” Berra said of the night. “I think they have a really good team over there. We were not that ready in the first period.”
Second period, the Flames fluttered three more shots at San Jose’s backup.
Meanwhile, Berra had already parried 26 shots.
Amazingly, though, the Flames regrouped. How?
“Just a lot of talk,” said Cammalleri, “about what’s going on and ways we can try to fix it — ‘Let’s do this, boys. Let’s do that, boys.’ Everyone’s offering what they can and trying to bring it on the ice to change the momentum, to turn the tide.”
“It’s the business — you keep going the best you can and try to find solutions. That’s the good thing about our group ... it hasn’t been fingerpointing, it hasn’t been hanging heads. It’s been trying to do something about it.”
But, in overtime, Thornton chugged into Calgary territory and rifled a slapper — the element of surprise, yes — at the net. Heading for the crease was Stuart — yet another surprise — and somehow he coerced the puck over the goal-line for the game-winner.
“I saw Thornton come into the slot,” said Berra, “then I didn’t see much at all after that. I think one guy right in front of me, it hits him and bounced between my legs. There was a little hole there. Disappointing.”
Disappointing for a needy team with only three wins in its past 13 outings — yet fortunate for a group that had looked that sad.
“You’re extremely lucky you got a point,” said Butler, who, with partner Brodie, blocked a total of 14 shots. “We’re not starting games. We’re not ready. We’re feeling out games to start. I’m not sure why.
“For the first 40 minutes, we were going through the motions.”
C-NOTES: Flames prospect D Rushan Rafikov — one of the team’s seventh-round picks at the 2013 NHL draft — is representing Russia in the upcoming Subway Super Series. Skating for the CHL sides are Flames picks RW Emile Poirier (QMJHL) and LW Morgan Klimchuk (WHL). Calgarians D Dillon Heatherington, D Josh Morrissey, LW Mitch Moroz and LW Hunter Shinkaruk are also suiting up, as is Hitmen C Greg Chase. Each league hosts two games. For the WHL — Nov. 27 in Red Deer, Nov. 28 in Lethbridge.