BREAKING BAD HABITS
Can Flames halt parade to the penalty box?
If you thought the Calgary Flames lost a little faith following their series-opening setback in Anaheim, guess again. Quite the opposite.
After gifting the Ducks Game 1 with a series of lapses that turned the evening on a dime, the belief surrounding the team is stronger than ever that their 28-game losing streak at Honda Center is about to come to an end.
Gone is the shattered confidence that used to come with playing in the Flames’ unhappiest place on Earth.
What prevailed around the team Friday was palpable optimism that they’re on the verge of a win that would turn the series and give the Flames the split they came here in search of.
“It’s really the mindset we adopted all year,” Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said of his team’s calmness. “You were there in Calgary all year, there was heavy panic (outside the room) Game 2. (The players) just kind of found their way through it and I really like the way our mindset is right now. We’ve been through adversity. You can’t have true growth without it. We’ve had true growth in our group.
"We’ve hit a little patch here where we probably didn’t play quite well enough to get the win (Thursday) night in the series, but we keep moving forward. We’ve done that all year and we’re going to continue to do that. I think we’re positive, we’re upbeat and we’re excited for Game 2.”
They have every reason to be. After weathering an early storm that saw the Ducks rile up their home crowd with a goal 52 seconds in, the Flames settled down with a significant stint that saw them gain the momentum and a 2-1 lead with a Sam Bennett goal midway through the game.
Then came a five-minute mental lapse that featured a beer-league line change and a pair of penalties that handed the Ducks two goals and what would ultimately be the win.
“We could have controlled our own fate if we could have stayed away from the penalties,” said Johnny Gaudreau.
“After Benny got that second goal, I thought we were playing at the top of our game there and looking pretty good and the next thing you know one bad change and couple bad penalties and it’s a 3-2 game.”
Seven penalties — and they haven’t been short-handed seven times in a game in six months — led to two Ducks goals, a constant disruption in Flames momentum and, ultimately, the loss. That shouldn’t happen again. In terms of five-on-five play, the Flames may very well have been the better team in a nerveracking opener in a barn they’ve failed in for 11 years.
The Flames’ top line had 12 shots on goal and was dangerous all night, with Micheal Ferland recording seven shots. Gaudreau had the game-tying goal on his stick, but was stopped in spectacular fashion by John Gibson in the game’s dying moments.
“We were in that game,” said Sean Monahan, who converted one of the prettiest power-play goals of the Flames’ season.
“We made some costly mistakes and it came back to bite us. Seven (penalties) is way too many. I think our compete level and the stuff we did in their end — holding pucks and making plays, I think we were good five-on-five and we have to continue with that. Our mistakes gave them life and they’re correctable.”
Indeed, the Flames came within inches of forcing overtime in a game in which they continuously shot themselves in the foot.
“We can play way better and it was still a tight game,” said Mikael Backlund, whose line has more to give.
“If we bring our ‘A’ game, we’ll have a real good shot at winning. (Despite the loss), we’re feeling good about ourselves.”
It’s a departure from the way this team has felt about past performances here.
“Just keep doing more of the same,” said Kris Versteeg, who was the best Flames player not named Brian Elliott.
“I think a lot of the guys got some of the crap out of their system and we can move on to the next game and just play hockey. I think everyone in the room believes we can win. To go home with a split would be huge and we have to have that belief.”
After all, with Elliott stopping 38 shots and playing as heroically as he has the last few months, there’s every reason to believe the streak will end Saturday night.
“To a man, I think we could say we have another level to go to,” said Elliott, undeterred.
“There’s no reason to be pessimistic about it — we’re not hanging our heads at all. Everybody’s attitude is really good going into Game 2.” Discipline was AN A H E I M , CA L I F. their undoing.
Yes, again.
The Calgary Flames wore out whistles in the fall before finally halting their parade to the penalty box, but after months of much better behaviour, they apparently needed to learn the lesson the hard way one more time in their playoff opener against the Anaheim Ducks.
The Flames were short-handed on seven occasions in Game 1, surrendering a pair of power-play strikes in a 3-2 loss at Honda Center.
“We acknowledged it as a problem early in the year and we talked about it, that if we want to win in this league and want to be a successful team, we need to be disciplined and stay out of the box,” said Flames centre Mikael Backlund. “Especially in this building, it seems to be every time we’re here we take too many penalties, so we have to find a way next game to stay out of the box and be really disciplined and smart.
“We want it to be the other way. We want to create power plays and create our momentum for our team.”
The Ducks have the momentum heading into Saturday’s Game 2 (8:30 p.m., CBC/Sportsnet 960 The Fan) and the Flames have only themselves to blame.
“It was an even match five-onfive,” said defenceman Michael Stone of Thursday’s Game 1. “The big difference is the time that we spent killing penalties. Take that away and we’ve got ourselves a pretty good hockey game.”
The Flames had an optional practice Friday in Anaheim with most of their regulars instead choosing an off-ice workout.
Or, better yet, a review of the rule book.
Dougie Hamilton was Thursday’s only repeat offender, busted for three minors in an ugly outing. He was called for tripping in the opening minute, hauled down another attacker in the middle stanza and then completed the wrong kind of hat trick with a retaliatory cross-check in the third, moments after Ryan Getzlaf cranked Hamilton’s defence partner Mark Giordano.
Or perhaps he was trying to avenge Getzlaf’s man-advantage marker only 52 seconds after the opening faceoff, a blast from the blue-line that ended Hamilton’s first stay in the sin bin after just five ticks.