On Tuesday night the Calgary Flames left the game losers for the 16th time in 23 games as, despite leading late, they fell in overtime to the Los Angeles Kings.
The Good
- A bad Flames team played a very good Kings team and it wasn't a complete disaster as Calgary was only out shot and out chanced by three. The Kings were in the latter half of a back-to-back but they're a much better team, and are competing for a division title, so it certainly could have been much worse.
- Johnny Gaudreau recorded a pair of assists and a team-high four shots (and six shot attempts) despite playing primarily against the Anze Kopitar-Drew Doughty-Jake Muzzin trio.
- Joe Colborne continued to stay hot as, despite playing just over 12 minutes, he tallied a pair of assists giving him 14 points in his last 12 games. It seems like he's going to play himself into a contract he probably can't live up to.
- As a result of blowing their lead and picking up just one point the Flames remain behind the Canucks and Jets in the standings and are also within striking distance of the Blue Jackets.
The Bad
- This season Dougie Hamilton has been a lot better than most give him credit for but that wasn't the case against Los Angeles. Hamilton was on for a pair of goals against and finished with a game-worst minus-16 shot attempt differential at 5 v 5. The forwards he played most against were Dwight King, Dustin Brown and Vincent Lecavalier so it's not like he was out against top competition, either.
- Losing helps the tank and all but blowing a lead with less than 40 seconds to play and then losing in the first minute of overtime isn't a good look.
- Joni Ortio stopped 21-26 (.808SV%) in the loss. The Flames haven't exactly been stingy in front of him but it's clear he isn't the future in goal.
Stat Of The Game
- Jakub Nakladal, Brandon Bollig and Lance Bouma tied for the team-lead in scoring chances with three each.
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