Smith comes up big in win over Leafs
Goalie Smith comes up big as Calgary knocks off the Maple Leafs in Toronto
FLAMES 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1
Bill Peters was, understandably, fuming.
Not over the Calgary Flames’ 3-1 win over the Auston Matthews-less Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena, of course. We’ll get to details on the victory later.
But the issue at hand was the fact the head coach had seen the chain of events with 1:21 remaining in the third period differently than the National Hockey League on-ice officials did.
With Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen on the bench and a full-court press by the Leafs, the entire building had thought that Morgan Reilly scored the game-tying goal on Flames’ goalie Mike Smith. Instead, the puck hit the outside of the mesh, clearly no goal and the play was live.
As such, Calgary retrieved the puck and was able to create a two-on-0, only to have the whistle blown signalling that the play was dead. Meanwhile, the entire building and the gathered Leafs on the ice were celebrating what they thought was a goal.
“They were getting hot there,” Peters said, sarcastically in his post-game media scrum referring to the officials. “They had a lot of momentum going, the refs.”
That wasn’t the only call that Peters wasn’t happy with.
With Matthew Tkachuk already in the box for holding and 5:54 remaining on the clock — the Flames were clinging to a 2-0 lead at that point — Mark Giordano was whistled for interference, putting the visitors on the wrong end of a five-on-three situation.
Despite penalty-killers TJ Brodie, Travis Hamonic and Elias Lindholm trying to do what they could, Nazem Kadri brought the Leafs within one goal with 3:53 remaining (and just as Tkachuk had stepped out of the box).
“I’m not sure about the fiveon-three call, I’m not sure about the whistle, and if they would have called the icing that didn’t cross the red-line (at the game’s end), that would have made it a trifecta,” Peters said. “It’ll be an interesting explanation to our general manager from the league. Then we’ll enlighten the rest of the world on what really happened.”
Giordano, for one, thought the Leafs had scored.
“I was facing the puck and it went right by me and I thought their guy got a stick on it and thought they scored,” said the Flames captain. “I was kind of upset after because we would have had an empty-netter and won the game. It was a wellplayed game but definitely a good finish, that’s for sure.”
Especially given the selfinflicted pain they’ve caused themselves over the last few games.
Only a few days ago, Peters was talking about how the Flames had hit rock bottom after Thursday’s 9-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on home ice. Because, no matter what point in the season, no matter what league you’re playing in, it can’t get any worse than that.
While they still have some digging to do, Monday’s victory was another sign of progress in improving their attention to their play in the defensive zone. They improved to 6-4-0, managed to capitalize when it mattered most, and received timely goaltending from Smith.
He stood tall most notably on a blocker chuck during that third period penalty kill with John Tavares on his front doorstep and Tkachuk off the ice. He continued to shut the door on the five-on-three.
“Listen, we played a great game,” Giordano said. “We (defend) a five-on-three and that’s a deadly power play over there. They’re going to make you pay. But I thought we moved the puck really well all night and had a lot of opportunities.”
Despite going two periods without a goal from either side, the Flames were out-shooting the Leafs 24-15 after two periods.
Sean Monahan, scoreless in eight previous games, finally broke the dam at 5:39 of the third period on a rebound past Andersen.
Less than one minute later, Lindholm capitalized on a blueline giveaway by Mitch Marner while Michael Frolik eventually potted an empty netter with six seconds remaining.
Right after Lindholm’s teamleading eighth marker, Smith made a sprawling save on Zach Hyman who was parked on his doorstep which seemed to give them more confidence.
It was the second time Smith had denied Hyman on the doorstep, kicking out his left skate on the Leafs centre in the middle frame to keep the team in it.
Smith, arguably, did that most of the game — gave the Flames a chance. That definitely wasn’t the case on Thursday against the Penguins which saw him allow six goals on 21 shots (not that goaltending was their only imperfection that game).
They also dictated the pace at puck drop, outshooting the Leafs 12-4 in the first period and led them in shot attempts (20-10). When the Leafs did push back in the latter half of the second period, Smith was there.
In fact, there were little to no signs of shaky defensive play which has plagued their game of late and especially last week during a two-game road trip through New York and Montreal.
“We’re committed,” Giordano said. “We’re coming in and playing low to our plays and stopping in our own zone and getting available for each other. As ‘D’ men, I thought we’ve made more plays because of it and had those little plays to the middle and clean breakouts. Our last two games have been the way we want to play, especially defensively. And as you saw, when you play well defensively, goals come.”
Monday’s win built on a 3-2 shootout loss to the visiting Washington Capitals, a game that also showed signs of being more cohesive in their own zone.
“We’re taking some steps,” Peters said. “We’re learning how to play for each other. We’re learning how to manage the puck. Taking some of the risk out of the game.
“If we can continue to do that, we’ll have a good team when it’s all said and done.”