Flames give up too much too early to Senators in fourth straight loss

Article content

Darryl Sutter is never one to mince words and when he says something, he usually means it.

Article content

So, when the Calgary Flames head coach called out the team’s lack of emotion and energy following their fourth straight loss — a lacklustre 4-1 drubbing by the visiting Ottawa Senators, their first performance in front of their home fans since Dec. 11 — it should be setting off alarm bells in the dressing room.

While there’s still oodles of time left in the 2021-22 campaign (heck, they still have to find out when they’re playing 10 makeup dates due to the COVID-19 outbreak) this group is, officially, in a slump.

“The big thing is with our team, I’d like to get in some sort of rhythm of playing games. I don’t think there’s enough disappointment when they lose and just not enough emotion in our game right now,” Sutter said.

Article content

He’s right, certainly about the rhythm of playing games. The team now sits idle for four days before hosting the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.

As Matthew Tkachuk said in his post-game press conference via zoom: “Makes it worse, too, that we don’t have as many games. We’d love to play (Friday) and make up for it.”

But he’s right about the rest of it, too. This is the hand they’ve been dealt.

And they have to figure out how to deal with it, otherwise they’re going to keep dropping in the standings. On Thursday, Calgary fell to 17-11-6.

“Execution, a couple of turnovers on a couple of those goals,” Sutter continued, summarizing what went wrong on Thursday. “We’ve got some guys that are on the ice for too many goals against the last little, while which is a concern. I just think the emotional level of our group has been lacking for a period of time now. I think Looch recognized that and tried to grab onto it (Thursday).”

Article content

LOOOOOOCH GIVES FANS SOMETHING TO CHEER ABOUT

Down 2-0 heading into the second period, Milan Lucic dropped the gloves with Scott Sabourin off the faceoff and pummelled him with a few strong right jabs.

It was spirited and got the crowd fired up. But truth be told, at that point they desperately needed something to cheer for. On top of watching a snoozer, the building was at half capacity due to  Alberta Health Services restrictions and those who did get a ticket to the game weren’t allowed to eat or drink anywhere on the premises.

But there wasn’t much else to cheer for after that.

“Different guys got different ways of showing emotion,” Lucic said post-game. “But it just seems like since we’ve come back (from a 19-day break between games due to a COVID-19/Omicron outbreak and Christmas), it hasn’t been there consistently enough. That’s something we’re going to have to find again and it’s up to us as a group to do that together.”

Article content

Thursday’s game was the opposite effort you’d expect from a team whose fans hadn’t seen them in person in over a month; a team that had two days off of recovery, three straight days of practice, and had vowed to pick up the pace after facing three of the top teams in the NHL last week (three consecutive ‘L’s to the Panthers, Lightning and Hurricanes).

Instead, they gave up way too much, way too early.

It started 1:43 into the first period when Nikita Zadorov tried to rim a pass around the boards to Brett Ritchie who tried to accept it off his skate along the boards. Instead, the puck kicked out to Alex Formenton and he threw it towards the net. Nick Paul put the finishing touches on it — a stick-side softie which easily beat Jacob Markstrom.

Article content

The second gaffe was when Mikael Backlund was stripped of the puck by Formenton at the Flames’ blueline. Ottawa’s Connor Brown drew Markstrom over to one side, getting the Flames’ netminder to commit to the shot, then passed it over Paul, who deposited his second of the night.

“This is not a knock on goaltending or anyone, but when the other team scores a goal on the first shot, it’s never the way you want to start a game,” Lucic said. “Chucky alluded to it, in the sense of winning battles. If you look at what led to the goal, and maybe if you look at all four goals.

“This giving up four goals a game, doesn’t work for us. It doesn’t work for any team.”

GIVING UP TOO MANY GOALS

Much like their night in Florida that featured the Flames coughing up a late goal in the second period, Drake Batherson scored with 57 seconds left on the clock.

Article content

Tkachuk gave the Flames life early in the third — 47 seconds into the final frame, facing a three-goal deficit — with a perfectly timed tip off Chris Tanev’s point shot.

But the Sens’ Brown sealed the deal about four minutes after.

Markstrom, who was deemed not 100 per cent and backed up Dan Vladar against the Hurricanes last week, struggled as he faced 34 shots. Senators goalie Matt Murray faced 28 Flames’ attempts for his first win of the season.

During this skid, the Flames have been outscored 20-6, shining a spotlight on a lack of secondary scoring and a lost commitment to defending — or “checking,” as Sutter refers to their defensive game.

There’s more to it, Sutter added.

“You gotta trust your group and the big thing is trusting who you’re playing with,” he said. “It’s not so much what the coach has to do with it. It’s your partner — you look at the defencemen. Noah (Hanifin) and Razz (Rasmus Andersson) have had a tough time lately, they have to help each other more. I think Erik (Gudbranson) and Big ‘Z’ (Nikita Zadorov) are having trouble together right now. So, they have to help each other right now. Our centremen — Lindy has been under the weather right now, so just kind of hanging in there with him so we need more down the line from our other centremen. There’s lots of areas. It’s not just on one guy, it’s not just on a goalie, or on a power play or penalty kill. Those are the areas we’re good at.

Article content

He continued, adding arguably the most telling part of his post-game analysis.

“There’s gotta be a lot more guys that are able to handle adversity,” he said. “That’s a big challenge with this group. It’s still so much of a process. It can be frustrating, but at the same time, we need to dig in and play better.”

WHERE’S THE SCORING?

Tkachuk’s goal on Thursday was his 16th of the season and Calgary’s 103rd marker as a team.

A total of 61 of those strikes, or 59 per cent have come from only four players — Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane and Johnny Gaudreau.

Which is, of course, worrisome from Flames general manager Brad Treliving’s perspective.

“Yeah, you want to have as much scoring as you can and you want to have as much diversity in scoring,” Treliving said. “And you don’t want to be relying on one, two or three players and putting all the offence on some of these players. Certainly that’s an area we can continue to improve upon. We’re probably not the only team if you look around the league. Everybody has their top players and they’re relied on to produce and that’s a big part of their job. But teams that have success have depth and you’re not relying on those players every night.”

Article content

And if it doesn’t happen internally or from the Stockton Heat of the AHL, the writing is on the wall that Calgary will be shopping elsewhere to try to relieve pressure from their top scorers.

“From a matchup perspective, taking the heat off one or two or three players or a line or two lines, you certainly want to have as much depth scoring as you can,” acknowledged Treliving. “It’s a challenge for us and a lot of teams right now. You look internally, you look externally. You look at ways you can score more.”

ICE CHIPS

Desperate times call for desperate measures as the Flames’ in-house entertainment crew flashed to Christopher Sutter, noted crowd-pleaser and hype man, with only 2:25 minutes left in the first period. Usually that’s something reserved for later in the night with a close game on the line … They also went back to Sutter at the 8:35 mark of the middle frame … The Flames scratched RW Brad Richardson and D Michael Stone … Up next? Calgary has another four idle nights until they host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday (7 p.m., Sportsnet One, Sportsnet West) … Official attendance on Thursday was 9,639 … Flames LW Johnny Gaudreau was named to the Pacific Division All-Star Team, his sixth appearance at the NHL All Star festivities.

kanderson@postmedia.com

www.twitter.com/KDotAnderson