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Losing ways continue as Flames get blanked by Ducks

March 22, 2018, 11:10 AM ET [123 Comments]
Todd Cordell
Calgary Flames Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell

Five observations from Calgary vs Anaheim:

1. Deja vu

Does anyone else get deja vu watching the Flames? I feel like I'm seeing the same thing over and over and over. It's unbelievable.

The Flames once again had a strong start to the game. They generated quite a few chances and were able to dictate play.

As has often been the case, they couldn't convert on their chances. John Gibson made some big saves. They hit a post. They missed the net. Then, the first time they make a noticeable mistake Andrew Cogliano puts it into the back of the net.

The story was much the same over the final 40 minutes. The Flames would pressure but fail to get results. Then the Ducks would capitalize on a mistake, be it by a skater or Mike Smith.

When all was said and done, the Flames lost by four(!!) in a game they allowed 16 shots. That should never happen. Ever. And yet it's no surprise it did.

2. Mike Smith was awful

I don't know if he's still fighting an injury, regressing after playing over his head for months, or a little bit of both, but Mike Smith has been horrible of late and that was the case again vs Anaheim.

He couldn't do much about the 1st goal. The Ondrej Kase goal was extremely weak. The Hampus Lindholm goal probably should have been stopped, too.

By that point, it didn't even matter. The Flames have struggled to score of late and they needed a reason to fight back. Any remote chance ending up in the back of the net gave them every reason not to.

Smith's save percentage is down to .878 since January 30th. Stop me if you've heard this before but maybe the Flames need to go out and get a goaltender – at least more of a platoon guy – this off-season.

3. Dougie Hamilton continues to pile up the shots

I don't know if the coaching staff is encouraging him to shoot as much as possible, or if he just doesn't care anymore, but it's funny to watch him play right now because he is shooting absolutely everything.

He fired 13 pucks at the net vs Anaheim. The game before he attempted 16. A few games prior he recorded at least 10 three times in a row.

If you're into DFS, or are in the fantasy playoffs, he is a guy you want on your team right now.

4. Rasmus Andersson's isn't playing enough

He logged less than 12 minutes of ice vs Anaheim. He was attached to the 4th line for over five minutes and the 3rd line for almost four.

It's been well documented the Flames have a very poor group of bottom-6 forwards so I'm not sure what the coaching staff expects Andersson to accomplish while seeing limited ice with lesser players.

I get not wanting to put too much on his plate too soon but the season is over. Let the guy play and if he makes mistakes, he can learn from them. Andersson is one of the few reasons to tune in over the next couple weeks.

5. Another rough night on the power play

The Flames surprisingly only had two opportunities up a man. That's probably a good thing, though, because they were once again a disaster.

They didn't record a single high-danger chance and they conceded the eventual game-winning-goal to Andrew Cogliano.

There needs to be serious changes with how the Flames operate on the power play.

Recent posts:

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