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Despite a rather weak effort from the home team, the Calgary Flames would manage to walk away with one point last night as the San Jose Sharks took the win in OT.
With a quick goal from Logan Couture in the first period, the Sharks would essentially command the first period against the Flames as they outshot their opponent by a margin of 17-3.
Only being able to muster up three shots in the first period, the Flames were simply having a tough time getting any offense going as they Sharks constantly shut them down.
One would think that after being outshot and outchanced by such a large margin in the first period, that the second would be better, right? Not the case last night as the Flames were again outshot in the second period 11-3 as the game maintained its 2-0 lead for the road team heading into the third.
“The first period, it’s starting to be a problem for our group. We addressed it. Obviously, it didn’t get through because that’s by far the biggest spanking that we took in the first period. We didn’t touch the puck. The only way that we could have touched the puck is if we would have had two pucks out there.
“Then, in the second period, we started to get going a little bit, not that much. Then, in the third, we were desperate and I felt like we saw our good ol’ team again. But, if it’s not for Reto Berra, the Sharks can get on the plane after the first period and they already have the two points.”
The third period was really the only 20 minutes of hockey played by the Flames last night as they managed six shots on net and found the back of the net twice from Kris Russell who has been one of the Flames best players of late, in addition to a backhand goal from Mike Cammalleri.
All things considered, the Flames team which we has yielded success so far this year did not show up. They had little intensity and were unable to get anything going. As mentioned by the coach, there were not any lines out there which appeared to be clicking, and perhaps this is an indication to the head coach that he needs to start working on creating chemistry between his lines as he has been changing them a little too often of late.
That said, with injuries and young players constantly coming in and out of the lines, it can be tough to roll with the same group of lines night in night out. As expected with a rebuilding team, Hartley hasn’t had much choice but to shuffle lines as he tries to find the best combinations in terms of overall production for this group; something most teams have already worked out in previous years.
With respect to last night’s game, I have to say that I was really impressed with Reto Berra’s game. Goaltending has been one of the hottest topics with respect to the Flames since the retirement of Miikka Kiprusoff, and it seems like they have some promising tenders at their disposal. With his strong performance and “never quit” attitude which Hartley is a fan of, I would expect Berra to get a few more starts between the pipes as the season progresses.
“I’m not satisfied when we lose,” said Berra. “I hate to lose.”
If the Flames are to find more success carrying into their next series of games, against some of the strongest opponents in the league, they will need to rely on their speed and hard work. When the Flames try and compete directly with teams like the Sharks in terms of finesse, they simply get outplayed. This shouldn’t be their identity this year and they cannot find success by trying to do anything but outwork and outmuscle their opponents. It’s funny what can happen when you have a group of guys who are dedicated to winning and understand they are short in terms of star power.
We will see how things progress as Calgary continues to look to improve, most noticeably with their recent acquisition of Ladislav Smid who I maintain will help bolster their backend. The Flames have been in need of a guy who can punish the opposition, block shots, and clear the net for their tender and Smid fits the bill in my humble opinion. It should be fun to watch him work into Hartley’s systems.
The Flames will take to the ice next on Thursday night at home against the Dallas Stars.
That’s all for today folks, thanks for reading!
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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