FLAMES FIRING BLANKS
THIRD SHUTOUT LOSS IN PAST FOUR GAMES
Mark Giordano has done it before. Lee Stempniak, too.
Scramble off the ice — during a game — when your skate blade has fallen off.
So imagine the Calgary Flames’ surprise when, in the second period, referee Francis Charron whistled down a play because the skate of Tampa Bay Lightning defender Matt Carle had come apart.
But the sequence wasn’t halted immediately.
Rather, the official, near the Tampa net, waited. Then when Joe Colborne took a pass and had acres of open ice ahead, the whistle tweeted. On the powerplay yet. Yes, it’s only one play. Sure, it’s a game of mistakes, the players’ and otherwise.
But when your luck is as hard as the Flames’, it’s a true kick in the helmet.
“They were saying that they have to blow it down in a situation like that,” Giordano said of the officials’ explanation. “The linesman came up to me and said it was the right call. I was more mad … I thought they let some time run off the clock before they blew it. I was pretty disappointed they didn’t blow it down right away. They waited.”
The Bolts scored a pair of secondperiod goals — Ondrej Palat at 5:23, Nikita Kucherov at 10:20 — and that was more than enough fora 2-0 win in National Hockey League action Friday at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
“As we all know, we’re a very fragile group right now,” said Flames coach Bob Hartley. “As soon as we get down, it seems like we lose a step and we can’t generate.
“In the third period, I admired the push, the fight back, that we showed. But it’s the bad habits that we have that give the other teams the lead. That’s something that we have to correct — and correct quickly.”
The travellers, who got a shutout from Ben Bishop, are now 7-1-1 in their last nine dates. The other guys? Yeesh. With only 13 goals in their last nine dates, they are on a 1-6-2 slide.
“Five on five, it’s the same old (story) — we’ve got to find a way to get out of this,” said Giordano. “We generate chances but, at the same time, we have to play like we have nothing to lose because we really don’t. We’re not finding a way to get those goals. I mean, every mistake now, it seems, is magnified because we’re not scoring goals.”
The Flames may have had other gripes about the officiating.
Mikael Backlund is hauled down on a breakaway — could’ve been a penalty shot. Then a quick whistle on the delayed call — as Michael Cammalleri deposits the puck into the net.
“Those things are going to happen in a game,” said Giordano, whose group directed only 19 pucks on net. “We have to find ways to get more shots and generate more offence. It’s as simple as that.”
Added Stempniak: “Almost every call out there, one team agrees with it and the other team disagrees with it, no matter what. Offsides. Icing. Penalties. Everything. We got our power plays … and just didn’t capi- talize on it. The power play’s got to come through. We all have to be better on that.”
In their last 12 periods — all on home ice — the Flames have one measly goal. That’s it. “It’s not a recipe to win games,” said Stempniak. “It’s really frustrating. We definitely feel like we’re letting the goaltenders down. They’ve played great. Every game they’ve kept us in it, given us a chance. It’s frustrating. It’s hard. And it’s definitely a disappointing feeling for the 18 skaters out there.”
Karri Ramo, against the team that drafted him in 2004, was spectacular. Six times, he foiled Martin St. Louis, who entered the night with eight goals in nine games against his former employers.
“We’re wasting great goaltending performances,” said Hartley. “It seems like an old song.”