Devils sink lacklustre Flames at the Dome
Hosts can’t recover from ‘pitiful start’ as New Jersey hangs on for the win
The flight didn’t depart until postgame.
You couldn’t help but wonder, though, especially during the early stages of Friday’s 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils, if the Calgary Flames’ focus was already in Edmonton. After all, Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada showdown with Connor McDavid & Co. is a biggie, the most meaningful Battle of Alberta in a long, long while.
By contrast, this home date with the struggling Devils was a typical trap game. Well … gotcha!
“It was a pitiful start for us,” seethed Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan.
And a frustrating finish. Gulutzan and several members of his skating staff shook off any suggestion the Flames were guilty of letting their minds wander to Saturday’s much-anticipated clash with the Oilers at Rogers Place, but that doesn’t explain what was arguably Calgary’s worst opening period of this season, a sluggish and sloppy stanza that the hosts never managed to recover from.
The Devils racked up 14 shots on net during Friday’s first frame at the Saddledome, with wingers Kyle Palmieri and Taylor Hall each finding twine behind besieged backstop Chad Johnson, who would end up making 34 saves on the night.
If you missed Thursday’s highlights, you would have never guessed New Jersey was playing the second half of a back-to-back after Thursday’s 3-2 overtime loss in Edmonton.
“We were sitting here waiting for them,” said Flames defenceman Deryk Engelland. “We should have come out flying, and it was the complete opposite. They came out flying, got us on our heels and we couldn’t push back.”
“We didn’t play well tonight. We know that as a group,” echoed centre Matt Stajan. “We tried to dig back into it after a terrible first. Johnny made some saves for us to keep us in it and give us a chance, but you can’t chase the game. You’re not going to generate points, and those were two points we lost that we wish we had.”
If the Flames (23-20-2) fall short on their playoff push, this will be one of the nights they really regret.
Palmieri struck first for the outof-towners, calling his own number on an odd-man rush and whizzing a wrist shot past Johnson from the left wing.
Hall doubled the lead on a manadvantage late in the first. With Michael Frolik serving a sentence for hooking, the former Oilers star cruised into the circle and cashed in on a low shot.
“I thought they (the Devils) came out really strong, they executed,” Gulutzan said. “And we made two mistakes. We made a mistake on the penalty-kill and we made a mistake on a pinch on the first goal. Other than that, we were out-battled the whole time. When you lose battle after battle and you’re not ready to play, that’s what happens..”
The Flames earned their only scoresheet mention with about six minutes remaining in Friday’s middle period, with snake-bitten centre Sean Monahan cleaning up the leftovers after Dougie Hamilton’s shot from the point.
With the rebound tally, Monahan snapped out of an 11-game goalscoring funk.
Heading into Saturday’s Battle of Alberta at Rogers Place (8 p.m., CBC/Sportsnet 960 The Fan), the Flames are three points behind the Oilers in the Pacific Division standings.