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**Update: Apparently Cervenka's doctors appointment was cancelled yesterday and he will not be able to see the doc until sometime today. More updates should follow, but it could be that he is still awhile away from playing, despite previous reports.
An unfortunate way to start a shortened season, the Calgary Flames fell to the Anaheim Ducks in a close game Monday night. The Flames, who were down 3-0 in the first period, found a way to battle hard and tie the game. At the end of the day, their inability to benefit from optimal scoring chances, led to their demise. Although we saw a few of the same gaffes as their previous game (defensive coverage/faceoffs), the team did quite well in other areas.
"Pretty much two identical goals — we can't afford that," said Glencross. "There's obviously some positives out there, but we've still got to take care of our own end. Ultimately, the best way to play defence is to be in the other end. But when it comes into our own end, we have to bear down. Too many loose pucks around the net . . . and they have easy goals."
Calgary Herald
In their first game against San Jose the Flames did not effectively play the body, and as such, the Sharks were able to out muscle them on many battles for the puck. The Flames were able to muster up 17 hits during their bout with Anaheim, and were also able to convert two powerplay opportunities into goals. What does this all mean?
While it may still be early to pick out any positives or negatives about the team, we can say that they are seemingly improving upon areas in which they typically struggled in recent years. Hartley appears to be working hard with this new roster and the fast paced tempo hockey he promised is certainly starting to emerge, albeit not being able to secure a win.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the team is struggling at this point. To me, rather, it seems as though the team is actually starting to buy into Hartley’s systems and build chemistry together. Some of the passing and rushes I witnessed in the two first games was not something typically presented by previous rosters. This, in addition to the quick transitions and ability to force the play, has impressed me so far. It’s unfortunate that the team was not endowed with a longer training camp and or exhibition period to work out their new systems, but I can say I am content with the product they’ve iced so far.
I may be alone in this thought, but given the circumstances presented to this team coming into the year, they are playing just as expected…if not a little better. Juri Hudler is reported to be making his first appearance as a member of the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, while Cervenka may still be a little longer. The addition of these two will certainly help round out the roster and provide the extra offense needed to secure a win.
Our lineup, as it is, is clearly capable of scoring goals," said Cammalleri. "We had some wide open nets, had a couple rebound chances, these are goals 90 per cent of the time no matter if it's Cervenka, Hudler, (Jarome) Iginla, or (Cory) Sarich banging that in. We'll understand what it was that created those chances and trust the fact that those will start going in."
Bob Hartley, making his debut as Flames head coach, lamented his club's missed chances.
"Everything went right in the first period, our skating was unbelievable, our execution was great," he said. "Maybe we had a couple of shots — (Steve) Begin on the breakaway, Baertschi with basically a wide open net ... those situations happen in a game and when you don't get those easy goals, sometimes it comes back on you."
Ottawa Citizen Sports
The Flames have the day off, and I would imagine they will continue to work on plays and revisit their mistakes from their two first games. Coaches, players, and fans alike will be hopeful that Wednesday night against their rival Canucks will yield a W on the score sheet.
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