It can’t be easy, night after night, trying to explain how a team with such promise and high expectations manages to cough up another two points in the standings.
Such is life for increasingly desperate Calgary Flames coach Glen Gulutzan, who stood in front of reporters again late Thursday night with another deflating synopsis.
“We’re finding ways to lose,” said the Flames’ first-year coach from the not-so-comfy environs of the Saddledome.
“There are certain things that we’re doing well, but we’re finding ways to lose. We need somebody now to step up and find a way to win, and stop playing the victim.”
Midway through the Flames’ 4-2 loss to the Dallas Stars, it appeared such a hero finally emerged.
Johnny Gaudreau may have turned the corner on his fall of discontent early in the second period with goals two minutes apart, tying the game 2-2 and lifting the fading fans from their seats with a rare glimmer of hope.
They even started the once-familiar chant of “Johnny! Johnny!”
Alas, Gaudreau’s sudden rejuvenation was undone by another force that has been plaguing the Flames all season – special teams.
First, the team’s 29th-ranked penalty kill surrendered Jamie Benn’s go-ahead goal early in the third period.
Then the Flames, owners of the NHL’s worst power play, failed to tie the game in the waning minutes.
The humiliation of it all is such that the Flames have yet to score a single power-play goal at home this season, going 0-for-26.
“It’s nice to find the net but that’s not what the game is about – it’s about winning as a team,” said Gaudreau, the league’s sixth-leading scorer last year who now has four goals and 10 points in 15 games.
“It’s difficult – we worked on special teams the last few days because we know how important it is but we gave up one on the penalty kill and didn’t score on the power play. I guess we have to keep working at that, and try to get better because that helps win games. We have to get out of this funk, this slump and turn the season around here.”
Otherwise, as Michael Frolik said after the game, the season could be over soon.
He ought to know, as the Flames are now 5-9-1, which is exactly where the club started last year when their poor start cost them any chance at a playoff spot.
Days earlier Flames president of hockey operations, Brian Burke, called out his core players — Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie — for being pedestrian at best.
An optimist would look at the Flames’ situation and be buoyed by the fact they’ve won five games essentially without the help of a top line (Monahan has four goals and two helpers, while sitting at the same minus-10 as Gaudreau) or its top defensive duo.
Third-line mainstays Frolik and Mikael Backlund have been the club’s top forwards this year and, as Burke said, an argument can be made the team’s best defenceman to date has been Deryk Engelland.
After a rough start, the goaltending has been, well, okay.
Brian Elliott rebounded from a nightmarish debut in Calgary silks to be the game’s first star in three consecutive outings, which included wins in Chicago and St. Louis that got the team back to .500. He appeared to have turned the season around.
They’ve now lost five of their last six and have just two wins at home.
The team simply doesn’t have an identity.
Patrick Kane made that painfully clear recently when he casually suggested, “you never know what you’re going to get from the Flames.”
For a new coach trying to establish a different system and mindset, the comment cut to the core.
“I think we’re still trying to figure that out,” said Gaudreau when asked what his club’s identity was.
The plan is to be known for speed and hustle, two things that clearly don’t mean a damn if you can’t stop coughing up the puck, creating a shocking number of odd-man rushes and breakaways every game.
Another one of the lone bright spots has been 18-year-old Matthew Tkachuk, the Flames’ sixth pick overall this summer, whose play the first nine games landed him a full-time gig in the bigs. However, a wrist injury in practice Wednesday earned him a few stitches and shelved him for Thursday’s game. His status heading into Saturday’s game against the Rangers is unknown.
Three of the team’s next four are at home, making them crucial wins before a six-game eastern swing.
Some wonder if Gulutzan will be here that long, which is a ridiculous notion from a panicked fan base already pointing fingers.
However, what is clear is that this is on the players, especially the “stars.”
No longer can Gaudreau or Monahan use the fact they missed training camp as an excuse. No longer can anyone suggest they’re still adjusting to the new style of play Gulutzan implemented.
This team should be better, especially after Elliott, Chad Johnson and Troy Brouwer were added to a promising young lineup.
Right now it seems to be death by a thousand cuts for the Flames, who’d better stop the bleeding before it’s too late.
