BIG LOSS IN FLAMES WIN
Gaudreau scores, leaves game
The Calgary Flames have had this discussion before.
On the ice Johnny Gaudreau, being Johnny Gaudreau, receives more attention than most — the hacks, slashes, and extra shoves after the whistle come with the territory of being a star player in the National Hockey League.
And in Tuesday’s 1-0 win over the Minnesota Wild, the treatment happened again.
Twice, No. 13 left the game — once in the second period as he favoured his hand following a slash from Ryan Suter. The second time he left in the third period and didn’t return.
Post-game, Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan had no update. His absence could be a problem as the Flames return home to face the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.
“He took a couple slashes, on one he talked to the referees about and then another one later,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan. “We’ll see when I talk to the guys and see how he is. It’s (frustrating). We’ve had to address it a couple of times in our locker-room, that we’re not going to have that happen.
“It happened against Dallas — it happened against some other teams.”
That being said, Gulutzan was pleased with how the Flames responded.
“I thought we addressed it pretty good in those situations,” he said. “Everyone has those star players and you want to protect them.”
And the ultimate revenge is the final score — Calgary’s sixth win of a frustrating 2016-17 NHL campaign so far. The Flames improved to 6-10-1 and snapped a four-game losing skid.
“When you’re a great player, you’re going to get keyed on,” said Flames forward Troy Brouwer. “We do it too — we try to make it no fun for them.”
It was a grind from the puck drop. Against the Wild, they knew it would be.
But Chad Johnson made 27 saves in the shutout victory as the Flames also won the special teams battle, going one-for-six on the man advantage and not allowing a powerplay goal on their penalty kill.
The Flames had a smart start and, despite a quick barrage of shots from the Wild in the first minute and the last few minutes of the opening frame, the visitors dictated the pace.
Gaudreau connected on the power play at the 6:05 mark, the man advantage unit’s second straight game scoring.
At the start of the power play, however, the Wild had managed to get a short-handed chance but Mikko Koivu’s backhand shot rang a post. On the following possession, Gaudreau blew past three Wild players — Charlie Coyle, Christian Folin and Jonas Brodin — and went five-hole on Devan Dubnyk.
As the Wild started to wake up, the Flames were caught on a bench change and were stuck defending a four-on-one opportunity, but Jason Zucker hit another post. Johnson was called into action to defend Coyle and Nino Niederreiter on a pair of chances, including one in the final minute.
Still, they survived a late push from Minnesota and gladly took a Dougie Hamilton cross-checking penalty at the 20-minute mark as the blue-liner prevented a Mikael Granlund goal.
In the second, the Flames looked to have a 49-second five-on-three opportunity with Zach Parise off for slashing and a delay-of-game penalty given to Brodin.
But eight seconds later, Monahan took a cross-checking penalty for nailing Jared Spurgeon right on in the numbers and negated the twoman advantage. In total, they had four power plays after the first two periods and only connected on one.
Garnet Hathaway, playing his first NHL game of the season, got into it with Matt Dumba after the Calgary native took exception when Hathaway collided with Dubnyk behind Minnesota’s net.
“It gave us a lot of confidence,” Brouwer said. “I thought Freddie (Hamilton’s) line with Ferly (Micheal Ferland) and Hath did a phenomenal job of finishing their checks. Chucky (Matthew Tkachuk) did a great job coming back (after missing two games with a hand injury). I thought our D played really tough in front of the net, pushing guys over.
“That intensity, that tough play is what help us get a good edge.”