Article content
So, it turns out when a team trades two of its best defencemen they get worse at defence.
A novel idea if there ever was one.
Article content
But the Calgary Flames (31-29-5) are proving it, game by game.
After dealing Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin shortly before the NHL’s trade deadline — and Nikita Zadorov earlier in the season — the Flames have cratered defensively.
The Florida Panthers put up five on them. The Carolina Hurricanes managed to score seven and then, on Tuesday night at the Saddledome, the Colorado Avalanche (41-20-5) were the latest to get in on the action, beating the Flames 6-2.
Article content
Keeping pucks out of the net is proving to be a tough task for the Flames now that they’ve lost a third of their defensive corps. Imagine that.
And it’s not as if they’re getting egregiously bad goaltending, either. The Flames could have put Gandalf the Grey between the pipes against the Avalanche. No amount of wizardry was going to stop all the Grade-A chances the Avs were creating.
When Dan Vladar was mercifully pulled after two periods and replaced by Dustin Wolf, he’d stopped 29-of-35 shots. That’s too many shots, guys. Dustin Wolf took over for the third period and stopped the three shots he faced.
Maybe it will get better as newcomers Daniil Miromanov — who scored his first goal in a Flames uniform on Tuesday — and Nikita Okhotiuk find their place and gain chemistry with their new teammates.
That doesn’t necessarily account for why Rasmus Andersson and Oliver Kylington were both minus-3 on Tuesday night.
Maybe they just need a little time, too. Kylington took a puck to the face in the third period against the Avalanche, by the way. When it rains, it pours.
But was there any light that crept through the dark clouds?
Article content
Well, with Vladar standing on his head and making some big saves, the Flames did manage to carry a 2-1 lead into the first intermission thanks to goals from Miromanov and Walker Duehr. So there’s that. They recovered from allowing six goals in the second period and were somewhat better in the third, although it’s hard to say how much of that was the Avalanche taking their foot off the gas with the game in hand.
But ultimately, the scoreline tells the story.
For the third straight game, the Flames wound up on the losing end of a lopsided game. It’s been ugly.
That was probably to be expected. The Flames traded away some very good players recently and the organization got young players and draft picks in return. It was inevitable that the results were going to suffer.
Share this article in your social network
