‘Desperate times’: Flames fall further back in playoff race after Utah setback
The Flames’ hopes of keeping up with the Blues’ tenth win in a row were dashed by a crucial video review. It seemed like it could easily have gone in their favour, but it didn’t.
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The only thing more unkind to the Calgary Flames than the St. Louis Blues of late has been video review.
Tuesday night was no different, as the Flames’ hopes of keeping up with the Blues’ tenth win in a row were dashed by a crucial video review that brought back memories of 2004.
Down 1-0 after the first period in Utah, a Mikael Backlund centring pass early in the second period bounced off defenceman Nick DeSimone and towards the net.
Karel Vejmelka kicked the puck out with his left pad, but the league sought to clarify whether it actually crossed the line first, much like in 2004 when Martin Gelinas appeared to score in Game 6 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Final.
An overhead camera angle shown on the Sportsnet broadcast had many Flames fans convinced the puck was clear of the goal line, but league officials disagreed.
Much like the two video reviews against Dallas that cost Calgary its only other regulation loss in the last eight games, it seemed like this one could also easily have gone in the Flames’ favour.
Alas, it didn’t.
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Just over 30 seconds later, Barrett Hayton put Utah up 2-0, and the hosts never looked back.
Although a Rasmus Andersson blast from the point midway through the period set the stage for yet another Flames comeback, Vejmelka stole the show from there in a game the Flames would lose 3-1, thanks to an empty netter.
“This one sucks,” said Andersson, whose club fell seven back of St. Louis with two games in hand and eight games remaining.
“I thought we played good enough to get out of here with (at least a tie) but we just couldn’t get that tying goal. Their goalie made some huge saves.”
Asked to sum up the three-game road trip that saw the Flames go 1-1-1, a dejected Andersson was frank.
“It’s desperate times,” said Andersson, whose club got off to a slow start following an emotional shootout win in Denver the night before.
“We got three out of six points. At this time we probably needed one or two more points, so not good enough.”
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Idle Minnesota sits six points up on the Flames, but they’ve played one extra game.
The Flames return home to host Anaheim on Thursday and Vegas on Saturday, and will have to come close to running the table if they are to stage the ultimate comeback to extend their season.
“Now it’s a challenge for us to make sure we go home and play our best hockey of the year,” said Ryan Huska, whose line juggling in the latter half of the game wasn’t able to spark the sort of comeback the team has used in its last five wins.
“We have to find a way to win our games at home and that’s going to be a crucial thing for us here moving forward.”
Also, like in the loss to Dallas, they were victimized by stellar goaltending, with Vejmelka making 33 stops.
“I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win,” said Joel Farabee, who played one of his better games as a Flame.
“Obviously, we couldn’t figure out their goalie. I thought he played pretty well. But it’s that time of the year, you have to find a way to get a bounce and tie it up.”
The only good news on the night came from Craig Conroy. Several days after last Thursday’s cringy collision with Mikko Rantanen, Connor Zary’s status was listed as week to week.
In an intermission interview with Flames host Ryan Leslie, the Flames GM was asked about the status of the promising young winger.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back this season,” said Conroy.
Whether the Flames can extend their season to help make that possible is very much in question after their setback in Utah.
