Flames miss opportunity to pull away from Canucks in playoff race
Seven minutes away from holding onto a third-period lead that would have given them a three-point cushion on Vancouver, the Flames wound up losing so much more than just a game Wednesday.
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CALGARY — Opportunity missed by the Calgary Flames.
Seven minutes away from holding onto a third-period lead that would have given them a three-point cushion on Vancouver, the Flames wound up losing so much more than just a game Wednesday.
They lost their one-point advantage for the West’s final playoff spot, they lost their captain, and they lost out on a chance to take advantage of a sagging Canucks club that travelled and played for the second time in 24 hours.
“You lose it like that, it’s always an opportunity missed given the schedule they have,” said MacKenzie Weegar, whose club had three days off while the Canucks were playing their third in four nights.
“We were rested, we circled this one on the calendar. I’m sure they had it circled too.
“Ultimately that’s a three-point loss, not one.”
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Tally up the math any way you want after a proverbial four-point game, but the reality is that a 4-3 shootout win by the Canucks has Vancouver and Calgary tied for the West’s final wild-card berth with 18 games left.
And the Canucks now have Quinn Hughes back, as the captain and reigning Norris Trophy winner played just short of 30 minutes in his triumphant return to the lineup.
In an entertaining affair that saw the Canucks open the scoring, Jonathan Huberdeau scored a short-handed and a power-play goal in the second period to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead. Despite owning a 20-1-3 record when leading after two, the Flames weren’t able to stave off a hard-charging Canucks club that peppered Dustin Wolf with 17 third-period shots. When Elias Pettersson banged in a rebound to tie it with almost seven minutes left, the Canucks smelled blood.
With new life breathed into the visitors, Wolf was forced to make two big stops in overtime before Connor Garland beat the Calder candidate in the fourth round of the shootout to silence the Dome.
“It sucks, I mean, we got a point, but at the end of the day against these guys you’ve got to get two points,” said Huberdeau, who extended the skills competition by beating Kevin Lankinen five-hole with the team’s third attempt.
“I think getting that lead getting into the third, we’re used to that. We just had to kind of shut them down, especially on a back-to-back.”
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Ryan Huska was disappointed his team wasn’t able to match the speed and cohesiveness in the third period that his team displayed in the first two.
His job now is to ensure his club parks the loss quickly and prepares for a stretch run that starts with Colorado here Friday.
“When you don’t win a game it’s always an opportunity missed for anyone,” said Huska, whose club got a late first-period dandy from Nazem Kadri that tied it 1-1.
“Lots was made of this game because it’s Vancouver, and the positions we were both in the standings. But after tonight we have 18 must-wins, and that’s the way we’re going to continue to approach it.”
They’ll very likely have to do so without Mikael Backlund, as the captain left with an upper-body injury after playing just three minutes in the first frame.
Huska, who wasn’t able to provide an update on Backlund after the game, shifted Connor Zary to the middle, but used him sparingly over 13 minutes as he was clearly unhappy with the two minor penalties he took.
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“He’s that security blanket and Swiss army knife who can do a little bit of everything, but obviously if Backs can’t go, something was clearly bothering him,” said Kadri, who was engaged all night long, firing seven shots, drawing a penalty and finishing with two points.
“I’m not too sure what it was but I know it probably hurt him not to finish the game.”
The hurt was felt everywhere in the Flames room, as the inability to finish was something Backlund’s teammates could all relate to Wednesday.
