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Déjà Vu: Flames end losing streak with 3-0 shutout - Kirkland's season done |
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Did anyone else watching the game experience an odd feeling of déjà vu last night?
Not because of the emotional pre-game ceremony for Johnny Gaudreau and his family, but certainly something about the game felt like it had all happened before.
It finally clicked this morning. The four-game road losing streak, the utter absence of playmaking ability, and the final score.
That being a 3-0 shutout win.
Flashback to Friday, Nov. 1.
Limping back to the Scotiabank Saddledome after losing to Carolina, Winnipeg, Vegas, and Utah; the Flames held a pre-game ceremony to award team captain Mikael Backlund his silver stick. There were tears, laughs, and a whole lot of failed zone entries.
And at the end of the night, the final score read 3-0 for the home team.
Listen, if I don’t dig this crap up, no one will.
We could go a little deeper. Daniel Vladar got both shutouts. Jonathan Huberdeau, Rasmus Andersson, and Kevin Bahl each had a single point in each game, but that’s getting weird with it. Life is a series of coincidences, but this one is a fun to point out.
A few more notes on the game.
Lockdown
Ryan Huska let his team trade chances for around 17 minutes after Rasmus Andersson broke the scoring 10:14 into the second period. After that? The Flames sat back into a 0-3-2 or 0-2-3 trap and waited for the Blue Jackets to get frustrated.
Normally you see a forechecker trying to force the play to the outside early on when a team plays the trap. Huska doesn’t seem to have his forwards doing that and it looks tough to solve.
Taking in the Blues-Jets game this morning, there were times when Jets Head Coach Scott Arniel ran a 0-2-3 as well, but those instances went away as the Blues built a lead. We may be seeing a change in meta; we may just be catching a bit of chaos in the formations.
The other Jonny
It’s tough to nail down whether Jonathan Huberdeau played well in the win.
He kept the play going and served as a screen on Kevin Bahl’s rare power play goal and ended up picking up a secondary assist, and he had a number of quality opportunities against Blue Jackets netminder Elvis Merzlikins—but he also waffled every one of those, coughed up the puck several times, and made some questionable spin passes.
At the end of the day, the Flames got a win, and the beleaguered star got a point. Maybe it’s that simple.
Star Power
The line of Cole Sillinger (12th overall in 2021,) Adam Fantilli (3rd overall in 2023,) and Kent Johnson (5th overall in 2021) was a lot of fun to watch. The Sillinger and Johnson are producing at around a point per game in the last two weeks and Fantilli around a half a point per game.
It’s a hard truth, but “fun to watch” won’t cut it in a few years from now. Those three need to figure out how to score in games like last night.
Columbus finished the game with only six high danger chances at 5v5 and eight in total. That line produced two in 11:43 of even strength time together.
Putting It Away
Tuesday’s game was far from the brawl we saw between Columbus and Calgary last Friday. Mathieu Olivier in particular appeared to be toned down.
You have to wonder if there was a memo sent out to calm down for Johnny’s night.
Costco
Justin Kirkland’s season is done. The 28-year-old success story underwent knee surgery today. That makes two pending UFAs this season to hit a terrible stroke of bad luck.
It’s certainly an odd notion, but the bottom six will need to step up to replace his offensive contributions.
The Winnipeg, Manitoba product will finish the season with two goals and six assists for eight points in 21 games.
The Flames are back at it on Thursday to play a stifling Blues team that just beat the Jets 4-1.
Stats courtesy of the National Hockey League and NaturalStatTrick.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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