Flames’ offensive faceplant spoils Herculean effort by Vladar
This whole pop-gun offence thing is becoming more than just a bit of a problem for the Flames. If not for a Herculean effort by Dan Vladar, the Panthers would have won by two or three field goals.
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SUNRISE, Fla – Scoreless in the Sunshine State.
The Calgary Flames hit the halfway mark of their six-game road trip by going 0-for-Florida, losing 3-0 against the Florida Panthers Saturday, as they did two nights earlier in Tampa.
This whole pop-gun offence thing is becoming more than just a bit of a problem.
It marked the first time in almost five years the Flames were blanked in consecutive outings, highlighting a troubling trend heading into Carolina where they’ll play Sunday, less than 24 hours after what was unquestionably their biggest faceplant of the season.
If not for a Herculean effort by Dan Vladar, whose best game of the year saw him make 39 saves, the defending Cup champs would have won by two or three field goals.
Vladar was that good, his team was that bad.
“We didn’t play very well today,” said Ryan Huska.
“I thought Vladdy was unreal – if he wasn’t on the way he was today, that game gets away even more so than what it did today. I just felt like we were a slow team and didn’t look like we were prepared to play.”
Two nights earlier, the Flames had every reason to be proud of their effort in Tampa, where they simply couldn’t find a way to solve Andrei Vasilevskiy in a tight game.
Saturday’s 3 p.m. start time saw a sluggish Flames team out-competed from the get-go, outshot 16-6 in a first period in which Vladar was forced to stand on his head.
He got even better in the second when 19 more shots were thrown his way, prompting a series of stellar stops that should have helped spur on his team.
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It’s efforts like these that should serve as powerful reminders of why the Flames aren’t looking to trade the pending UFA by Friday’s deadline.
Despite an 8-11-5 record, he’s done well to shield Dustin Wolf from the toughest starts and has given his team a chance almost every time he’s played.
“He was the only guy who played really well for us tonight,” said Mikael Backlund, whose club got 11 of their 23 shots in a meaningless third period they entered down 2-0.
“When you play against the reigning champions, you need to bring your best game but we didn’t do that tonight. We didn’t play with any pace, we were too slow.”
In an effort to try and find any semblance of chemistry on his second and third lines, Huska opened the night playing Connor Zary with Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, while Yegor Sharangovich joined Backlund and Blake Coleman.
Crickets.
So, after being outshot 35-12 after 40 minutes, he made wholesale changes to the lines, promoting Zary to the top line with Nazem Kadri and Martin Pospisil.
Jonathan Huberdeau and Matt Coronato were centered by Frost, while Farabee landed on the fourth line.
Expect more shake-ups ahead, as the grueling roadie will put increased pressure on the offence to find its way, or continue losing ground in their wild-card pursuit.
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The afternoon featured a video tribute welcoming Ryan Lomberg back to the city in which he played four years and won a Stanley Cup, prompting an instant and lengthy standing ovation that put more than just a lump in his throat. Waving from the bench as he soaked in the moment, the wildly popular player and teammate was urged to jump over the boards to take a quick spin.
“That was Weegsy-baby, and looking back I’m happy he did,” said Lomberg, who was later serenaded by chants of “We love Lom-berg.”
“It was nothing short of amazing, they made me feel very loved today, and I appreciate that.
“I’m incredibly thankful and appreciative for all the fans out there cheering me on.”
Were there tears involved?
“I don’t know if there were official tears, but they were on their way,” he smiled.
“I was definitely fighting them back a bit.”
