Flames cap disappointing road trip with humbling loss to Red Wings

Rasmus Andersson believes his four-game suspension is too long.

So he appealed.

You can bet the only thing that felt longer was the team’s flight home from Detroit Sunday after Andersson’s Calgary Flames punctuated a disappointing road trip in humbling fashion.

In the midst of a 6-2 loss at Little Ceasar’s Arena, Flames GM Craig Conroy made an appeal of his own.

“I want to see us skate more, and work harder on a consistent basis,” Conroy told Sportsnet host Ryan Leslie during the first intermission of a game his team trailed 2-0.

“Tighten up defensively…”

The list could have gone on, as the Flames left plenty to be desired on a 10-day eastern roadie that finished 1-3-1 against a handful of teams that missed the playoffs last year.

And while they started feeling good about their travels after beating Buffalo three games in, the mood is down after a 72-hour period in which they fell short against Johnny Gaudreau’s team, lost Andersson at the end of it and then got bootlicked in Motown.

And while the team looks forward to four straight games in Alberta, Andersson’s suspension casts a bit of a pall over next Sunday’s outdoor game in Edmonton — especially since the man he would have gone up against all game, Connor McDavid, is also out "one to two weeks" with an upper-body injury.

“Our full support is with him,” said Conroy when asked about the decision made by Andersson, his agent, the players’ association and the team to take the matter up with Gary Bettman.

“Obviously we’re hoping it will go in a different direction.”

Andersson was suspended following a hit on Patrik Laine in the final seconds of Friday’s loss that Gaudreau rightfully deemed "unnecessary" after the game.

He suggested it would be "evening up" the next time the two teams meet at the end of January.

Erik Gudbranson, who immediately raced to jump Andersson, agreed, saying he didn’t like the hit at all.

No one could, especially given the game was seconds from ending and it reeked of a player taking out his frustration on a prone opponent.

That’s not to suggest Andersson is a dirty player, as he’s never been suspended, and only been fined once in his 382-game career.

The question is whether the four-game ban is a tad too stiff.

That will be up to the commissioner to decide now, as it’s Bettman alone who rules on appeals for suspensions under six games — a process agents and the players’ association have long disliked.

Either way, sometime in the next week, Bettman will chair a meeting at which the NHLPA will represent Andersson, while supported by his agent and a Flames representative.

The Department of Player Safety (DOPS) will outline the logic behind its decision, as well as relevant precedents concerning its length.

As the DOPS suspension video indicates, “Andersson launches upwards into Laine, elevating unnecessarily and making significant contact to Laine’s head with his elbow, causing injury.”

Although initially kicked out of the game with an elbowing major, the league ruled it was charging.

As the video points out, Andersson argues Laine was low when the check was being initiated.

The best Andersson can hope for is a one or two-game reduction, which is likely the whole point of appealing — he wants to play in the Heritage Classic.

Andersson missed Sunday’s game and can’t play until the suspension is served, unless, of course, Bettman chooses to reduce it.

Bettman’s decision is binding and final.

Back to the carnage the lads had to fly home thinking about.

In an effort to spur on more offence, Ryan Huska juggled all but the fourth line, putting Adam Ruzicka, Elias Lindholm and Matt Coronato together, as well as uniting Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and Dillon Dube.

Neither line scored.

Everyone on Kadri’s line finished minus four.

“They weren’t great tonight, that’s for sure,” Huska told Flames TV when asked about the new combos.

“We got it handed to us tonight, so they should be frustrated after a night like tonight.

“There’s no real sugar-coating that.”

Turnovers were the story of the game for the Flames, who simply couldn’t defend the rush against an upstart Red Wings team that has started the year 5-1-0 and leads the loop in goals.

Andrew Mangiapane was reunited with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, and responded by banging in a second-period rebound to make it 3-1.

Fourth-line centre Yegor Sharangovich scored his first of the season, while Andersson’s absence prompted Huska to pair Noah Hanifin with Chris Tanev, MacKenzie Weegar with Nikita Zadorov and Jordan Oesterle with Dennis Gilbert.

Surprise starter Dan Vladar had some beauties scored against him, but needed to be much better than stopping 24 of 30 shots.

“Six games in and there’s a lot of hockey to be played, but we’ve got to pick it up,” said Backlund.

“We don’t want to fall behind here.

“We need a really good homestand before the outdoor game.”

The Rangers visit Tuesday and the Blues come calling Thursday before the Flames head to Commonwealth Stadium.

Contract Talks

Asked about Elliotte Friedman’s report that the Flames and Noah Hanifin were making some progress in contract talks, Conroy wasn’t tipping his hand.

“We’ve been working with all our UFA guys, talking to them from the summer and training camp, and right through the start of the season,” he said.

“It’s pretty much been status quo moving forward.”