Flames Takeaways: Careless penalties cost Calgary in streak-snapping loss

Not many teams in the modern game can pull off a win while giving the opposition nine power plays.

The Flames proved that point Monday in a game they did well to take themselves out of with an endless stream of careless penalties.

Seven different Flames drew at least one penalty each in a 4-3 loss to the Senators in Ottawa, where even the Flames’ video coach chipped in with a minor on an unsuccessful challenge that helped set the tone for the night.

To be fair, Flames video guru Jamie Pringle has been stellar all season, stealing several points along the way for the team with astute challenges.

But on Monday, he took the time over the course of a TV timeout to decide to challenge a Flames goal disallowed by the on-ice officials who deemed Justin Kirkland to have interfered with goalie Anton Forsberg.

It would have put the Flames up 2-0.

No dice, giving the Senators a power play they capitalized on moments later to tie the game 1-1 late in the first.

The Senators essentially took over from there, and while they only scored two of their four goals with the man advantage, the Flames spent an unreasonable amount of time on their heels killing penalties and trying to play catch up.

A late second-period goal by Yegor Sharangovich closed the gap to 3-2, but the Flames racked up ten more penalty minutes in the third. A Mikael Backlund redirection with 38 seconds left wasn’t enough.   

“It’s hard to win when you have 20 penalty minutes - it’s one-third of the game in the penalty box,” said Rasmus Andersson, whose team had its four-game winning streak snapped by a desperate team that had lost its previous five.

“We took eight minor penalties, I don’t care what league you’re in, you’re not going to give yourself a chance to win,” added Ryan Huska, who also explained the rationale behind the failed challenge. 

“Kirky’s path was not to go in the crease, and he was pushed in. So in situations from what our understanding is, if he is pushed in or directed into a goalie then that should have counted. But it didn’t.”  

It’s worth noting that Pringle rebounded well by successfully challenging a Senators goal before the end of the period that saw Brake Batherson clearly interfere with Dustin Wolf.

More takeaways from a tough start to the Flames’ four-game eastern roadie:     

Wolf streak ends

Dustin Wolf’s four-game winning streak is over, as is his four-game string of facing 29 shots in consecutive outings. (Weird, eh?)

This time, he faced 30, which included 11 on the power play.

Wolf was excellent all night long, victimized by a couple scrambly plays that led to goals he had no chance on.

It marks his first loss in seven starts and just the second time in that stretch he allowed more than three goals.

Quite a run for the rookie netminder.

You can bet Dan Vladar will get the start in Detroit Wednesday before the two goalies split starts in their back-to-backs Friday and Saturday in Columbus and Pittsburgh respectively.

Still streaking 

Jonathan Huberdeau’s game-opening goal in the first period marked the fourth-straight game in which the Flames scored on the power play.

The Flames finished the night 1 for 2 and now sit near the middle of the pack (18th overall) in power-play efficiency, which is quite an improvement from the 26^th-place perch they occupied a week earlier.

Sharangovich also extended a streak of his own, scoring for the third consecutive outing.

In that stretch the 26-year-old winger has 18 shots on goal, marking the type of rebound he had after a slow start last year as well. 

The Flames’ big off-season signing has just five goals in 15 games, and despite firing seven shots on goal Monday, he was a major detriment to his club with two penalties.

The Lines:

Huberdeau-Zary-Coleman
Pospisil-Kadri-Kuzmenko
Sharangovich-Backlund-Coronato
Lomberg-Rooney-Kirkland
Bahl-Andersson
Weegar-Miromanov
Hanley-Pachal
Wolf