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After a strong performance against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Flames fell 5-1 against the Minnesota Wild last night with rookie goalie Reto Berra between the pipes for his second NHL career start.
While a 5-1 loss typically screams poor goaltending, I felt that Berra played quite well as he kept the Flames in the game during the first 40 minutes, stopping 13 of 15 shots faced. It would be a lack of communication and poor defensive assignments that would eventually turn a 2-1 game, into a 5-1 game as the 3rd period closed.
Jiri Hudler who has been having a great start to his 2013-14 NHL campaign would open the scoring for the Flames about five minutes into the game after receiving a nice pass from Lance Bouma. Despite starting off strong, it wouldn’t take long for the home team to tie up the game as Mikko Koivu buried the Wild’s first to end the period. Scoring the only goal in the 2nd, Zack Parise would provide his team with the lead as a result of a power-play goal. Minnesota, a team who has been playing well together of late, displayed some nice puck movement as they responded to the Flames early lead.
"I like the way we responded, getting the quick reply, especially who got it for us," Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. "That was a good message to the group that we were going to bounce back."
As mentioned, despite keeping the game within one for the two first periods, the 3rd and final period of the game would open the flood gates as the Wild would find the back of the net two times in less than one minute, followed by a late salt on the wound 5th goal for the night.
After a disappointing 5-1 loss, most fans would expect to hear some harsh reactions from their coach as we often see a few players being thrown under the bus. However, most comments received from the coach after the game had more to do with how he felt the opposing team played well than how their team played poorly.
"The goals that they scored, you could have taped Patrick Roy, (Ed) Belfour and (Martin) Brodeur together and we wouldn't have won that game," Hartley said. "They were so much better than us, they deserved the two points."
I don't know, his answer kind of seems like a "cop-out" to me...but I digress.
With that being said, the team really fell apart defensively as the game reached its halfway point. Not properly covering their assignments, allowing for uneven rushes and shots on net which should have been blocked, it appeared as though the team lost focus chasing the puck around. Whether the game was as a result of Minnesota playing that well, or if it more to do with Calgary lacking the overall talent to keep up wasn’t important last night…at least not to me.
What I saw was a team who came in with confidence and as the game played out, was being slowly deflated. Apparent to the coaching staff as well, Hartley tried on a few occasions to change up the line combinations to spark some energy and or offense to no avail. The team simply did not play like a cohesive group and the scoreboard showed it at the end of the night.
As I stated, I felt that Berra played well for his second NHL start. The rookie made plenty of great saves and, as expected, let in one/two weak ones as well. All things considered, I liked the netminder’s battle and focus throughout the game. There weren’t too many times where he appeared to have lost sight of the puck entirely or looked out of place. He stuck in there with his group and unfortunately for him, didn’t have a steady defensive corps in front of him.
"For sure I have to watch video about one or two goals," Berra said. "Maybe I should have those, but the other ones were just pretty nice plays."
The Flames will take on the St Louis Blues tomorrow night and the Colorado Avalanche the very next night. These next two games will be a very big challenge for this team who is currently sitting with a 6-7-2 record.
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A current hot topic around the league with several foot related injuries has been reflected towards teams mandating the use of protective footwear. After the loss of Mark Giordano and Lee Stempniak to foot related injuries, Flames GM Jay Feaster jumped aboard with many other teams who have been instructing their players to wear the protective guards which has sparked some debate. According to Mathieu Schneider, Special Assistant to NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr – “No team can unilaterally make a piece of equipment mandatory….
According to Darren Dreger of TSN, Flames players advised the Players Association that they were strongly encouraged by management to wear extra protective equipment, but have not been told that it’s mandatory at this point. That said, it appears that the majority of Calgary players have opted to take their advice and are all reported to be wearing some form of additional protective footwear.
The question I turn to you is – Should teams be allowed to mandate their players to wear extra protection as they see fit, or should it up to the players to make the judgment call with respect to their safety and “career choices…?
That’s all for today folks, thanks for reading!