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Well, the Calgary Flames winning streak has ended at five straight home games.
I find it a little comical that the Flames had a stronger road record prior to this streak and would find their first loss in six games on the road with the addition of veteran Mike Cammalleri.
For those of you who may have read my Leafs blog from this morning, I touched on how certain players seem to affect their team’s record, but I don't feel that many will argue that the team is stronger with Mike than without, given their depth.
Last night, the Flames were set to extend their winning streak to six games and would have two new players in their lineup who were absent from previous games. With Karri Ramo sidelined with a knee injury and Mike Cammalleri back from a concussion, the Flames would have to make slight adjustments to their lineup as they set up to play the Canadiens.
That said, I didn’t notice too much of a difference from their play last night, compared to the play we witnessed throughout their latest winning streak. I suppose the biggest difference would end up being the goaltending from each side as Reto Berra would allow the only goal of the game (outside of the empty netter).
Last night I posted on Twitter that I felt the chances from either side were not very strong, and I got the impression that it was misunderstood. While there were plenty of scoring chances from either side, the majority of them, at least I felt, were blocked, deflected, or hit the goalie square in the chest. Don’t get me wrong, both sides were firing the puck and created many scoring chances, but I ultimately felt the game was an example of strong defense and goaltending from either side – exhibited from the combined 40 blocked shots for the night.
“I didn’t think a lot of chances were generated either way,” Cammalleri said. “It seemed like there was a lot of speed on the backcheck both ways, a lot of back pressure from both teams. That made it hard to really create outnumbered rushes either way.”
Though he’s taken a lot of slack over his recent performances, I thought that Berra had a pretty strong game. He and the Flames defense played the puck very well, kept shots to the sides (blocker/pad saves), and also were able to limit rebounds. I have liked what I have seen this year in terms of defensive systems from the Flames as it has not only kept many games within a goal, but gave them a fighting chance to win a few they normally may not have.
Last night, in fact, the Flames logged a total of 27 shots and managed to keep the Canadiens to 27 shots themselves. They registered 34 hits in comparison to Montreal’s 27and had but 6 giveaways for the night compared to 22 from the Habs. These numbers are a true testament to a strong defensive game which coach Bob Hartley has been working on since the day he arrived.
With that established, the loss was ultimately due to the Flames inability to score despite this not being an area of concern for the team of late.
“Price played well, but he saw a lot of shots,” said Lee Stempniak. “To be honest, he made it look pretty easy. We know he’s a good goalie, but I think we need to generate a little more traffic and a few more shots.”
The Flames were awarded with two powerplay chances last night and could not score on either. Through most of their success this year, the Flames have been able to find the back of the net during their extra man advantage. At the end of the day, both teams played a strong game and it came down to one goal for the home team.
Price would hold off for the shutout and the Flames, despite losing, should feel good that at the very least they boosted his confidence just in time for the Sochi Olympics!
Thanks for reading!
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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