Tuesday night we got to see a beautiful microcosm of the Calgary Flames 2022-23 regular season.
A goal against on the first shot?
Check.
Outshooting the opposition by a vast margin?
Yep. 57-20 by the final buzzer.
The inevitable defensive breakdown in overtime?
You got that right.
In franchise history — have we ever experienced a season like this? This year’s edition of the team has given new meaning to the title Find-a-Way Flames.
This is a team the consistently wins puck battles. They out-chance the opposition most games. The talent is clearly there. The effort is there. The buy-in is there.
Yet here we are — discussing the 23rd one-goal loss of the season. 23 of 36 total one-goal games played by the Calgary Flames this campaign.
Today we probably have to face some hard facts. Winnipeg, Edmonton and Seattle hold the two Western Conference wildcard spots and a 3rd place spot in the Pacific Division respectively. All three are tied at 72 points.
The Flames are on the outside looking in with 67 points. Calgary has 21 games to make up a difference of 5 points. They only play one of those three teams once — an April 5 game in Winnipeg.
On top of all of this, last night’s overtime loss was just convincing enough to keep the roster from being sold at a premium this deadline.
In a year where you can get two first round picks and a top four defenceman simply by giving up a slightly better top four defenceman — we’re going to stand pat and hope the team finds a stroke of luck over the last month and a half of the season.
Brutal.
February 28 featured ten trades. Eleven if you count the handshake on the Jonathan Quick transaction. Here is the draft capital that was transferred just yesterday.
Conditional 2023 1st (LA) 2023 1st (EDM) 2023 1st (LA) 2023 1st (BOS) Conditional 2023 2nd (NYR) 2024 3rd (SJ) 2024 3rd (LA) 2024 3rd (TOR) 2025 3rd (NYR) 2025 4th (NYR) 2024 4th (EDM) 2024 4th (MIN) 2023 5th (MIN) 2024 6th (NSH)
For a guy with a reputation of being involved in everything, Calgary general manager Brad Treliving seems to be exactly on the same page as the team he manages. All the work put in and very little to show for it. Barring a trade, the Flames will be only be making five picks this year. Their third and fifth round picks were involved in the Toffoli and Jà¤rnkrok deals respectively.
Good times.
For envy’s sake, let’s look at the Preds. A team with enough games in hand to potentially pass the Flames in the standings when they make them up.
They have 12 picks in this upcoming draft. Six of them in the first three rounds.
They have five first round picks and five second round picks in the next three drafts.
They acquired a former 1st round pick from last year’s draft and a former first from the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
They got all of this for a 32 year old top four defenceman and two middle six wingers. They even got another top four defenceman as part of the return. They could likely flip Tyson Barrie for at least a another second round pick. You could make a case that a power play specialist with 43 points in 61 games is worth a first.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be that team just once?
Stymied Slavs It was another rough night for defenceman Nikita Zadorov and goaltender Daniel Vladar.
The hulking Russian defender got deked around with ease in the first period. He slammed his stick on the bench afterward.
His big hit in the late third was — poorly timed. He took both Jake DeBrusk and Andrew Mangiapane down as the Bruins entered the zone. Tanev failed to block the signature Bruins back door pass and we’re looking at a 3-3 tie.
The Czech netminder had a frustrating experience in a different way. A goal against on the first shot. Two goals against by four shots. The Bruins hit a post before the first period ended and Markstrom took over for the final 40.
You could see him stuck in his own head. Going for skates between plays, looking up to the ceiling while talking to himself. You could see him start to cheat to one side of the net. It was likely the right call to pull him.
F is for Reffing League Commissioner Gary Bettman got a solid viewing of the quality of officiating NHL referees provide on a nightly basis. The Flames go to the box on an extremely questionable Mikael Backlund hooking call late in the third. The Bruins tie the game up.
Minutes later in overtime? Bruins defenceman Charlie MacAvoy smokes Kadri from behind leading to an overtime change in possession. Zero call. The League doesn’t even record it as a hit.
This is a lot of complaining. The Flames had about 15 two-on-one opportunities over 64:55 of play. The game ended 18-2 in even strength high danger chances in favour of Calgary. 22-9 if you include non-5v5 situations. The Find-a-Way Flames simply once again found a way.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Stats via naturalstattrick.com, capfriendly.com, and nhl.com.