Kings at Flames Recap: It Was a Barely a Game

Calgary did eventually score, with Cammalleri and McGrattan getting some late-Iginla era garbage time goals, but it'd be tough to see this as anything but an absolute train wreck of a game.

The Flams were frequently a step behind the Kings, and when they weren't they just didn't have the skills to convert or execute anything.

Nothing demonstrated this more than Calgary's first two power plays. The first came at 7:40 in the second, when noted dirtbag Jarret Stoll boarded Mikael Backlund.

Calgary got one shot from that, and it was with twenty seconds left in the power play. They sadly spent most of their time chasing the puck around the neutral zone. The second one came seven seconds after the first one expired when Slava Voynov hooked Cammalleri. Impressively, it was somehow even less successful, with only LA managing a shot on goal.

Even worse than the Calgary's attempts at offense were the attempts at defense. Both of the King's first two goals (from Justin Williams and Superstar Trevor Lewis) came on absolutely awful plays by the Calgary defense.

The first goal came at 4:05 of the first, with several LA players sitting pretty comfortably in the Flames zone and the Flames defensemen looking hilariously lost and confused.

The second came six minutes later, when Trevor Lewis sat in front of both the net and Corban Knight and redirected a Slava Voynov shot from the point.

LA's third goal was at the beginning of the third when a Drew Doughty point shot was tipped by Mark Giordano Anze Kopitar with, again, nobody trying to remove the players camped in front of the net.

There's a ton of moments like those throughout tonight's game, but either way, it was ugly and bad and very much not enjoyable. Despite chasing the Kings for most of the game, score effects didn't even make an appearance, with the final EV shot attempt count at 32-29 Kings.

Still, while Calgary did look bad, it wasn't all bad. The rookies looked decent enough for being rookies, and TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano were fairly solid most of the night. Calgary has a long way to go, but it could easily be much much worse.

by Arik Knapp