Recap: Calgary Flames (0) vs Ottawa Senators (6): Not A Good Night For The Good Guys

The Flames came into this contest with a chance to win their 4th in a row….yeah, that didn’t happen. The Flames played undisciplined and the Senators took advantage of a Flames team that played 6 games in 11 days by beating Calgary 6-0 at the Saddledome Friday night.

1st Period: Calgary Flames 0 Ottawa Senators 1

The opening period to this contest was fairly “ho hum.” There wasn’t a ton of action for the majority of the first 19 minutes. The Flames had some decent scoring opportunities, but they couldn’t capitalize. The Senators didn’t produce much at all, which should be good news to Glen Gulutzan. He’d been hammering his team all week about them giving up too many quality chances and Calgary responded, for the most part, by keeping Mike Smith’s period rather uneventful. Calgary only gave up 3 shots for the bulk of the period, all of which came on an Ottawa PP.

With less than a minute left in the period, Ottawa would break the scoreless period. Cody Ceci would streak up ice and beat Mike Smith to put the Senators up 1-0 and that’s how the period would end.

2nd Period: Calgary Flames 0 Ottawa Senators 2

The second 20 was more of a back and forth snoozer symbolized by undisciplined play by the Flames and a few chances late in the period. The main excitement for the Flames in the period was Calgary killing off a Mikael Backlund double minor for high sticking. The Flames had a few quality chances while being shorthanded, but they couldn’t find the back of the net.

Mike Smith weathered the storm for the most part, but a struggling Ottawa PP unit ALMOST came through. Dougie Hamilton was off for slashing when the Senators scored just as the PP play ended. Derick Brassard would fire a wrist shot towards Smith that he never saw and Ottawa would take a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.

3rd Period: Calgary Flames 0 Ottawa Senators 6

If you liked watching the Senators score, then this was your period. Ottawa poured it on the in the third to the tune of 4 goals, chasing Mike Smith from the game. Mike Hoffman opened the scoring in the third by getting Ottawa their first PP goal of the season. Hoffaman buried an absolute rocket off of the face off, putting Ottawa up 3-0. Mark Stone would put the Sens up 4-0 when he was left uncovered out from during a 4 on 4 opportunity and he didn’t miss.

Haven’t had enough? Ryan Dzingel would score on a defensive breakdown that left him WIDE OPEN to give Ottawa their 5th goal of the night and that would be the end for Mike Smith as he would leave after surrendering 5 goals on 22 shots. Ottawa wasn’t finished. Chris Wideman would fire a shot towards the Calgary net and the puck would deflect off of T.J. Brodie’s skate and beat Eddie Lack top shelf to give Ottawa a 6-0 lead.

Final Thoughts

The Flames looked tired tonight, disinterested at times and were extremely undisciplined. Calgary took 7 penalties tonight, giving up 3 PPG in the contest. Calgary seemed to look to pass the puck when they should have been shooting. Mike Smith wasn’t necessarily at fault for most of the night. 2 goals were wide open looks on breakdowns and he was screened on one. At the other end of the ice Craig Anderson shut Calgary down for his 2nd win of the season. The Flames have zero time to mourn this game as they head to Vancouver right after this one for the second night of a back to back to play the Canucks.

Flame of The Game

Jaromir Jagr (F). And only because he was one of the few Flames that really did anything. It’s not like Jagr was lights out better than any other Flames player, it’s just that he put some shots on net and at 45, looked like he had more jump in his game at times.

What’s Next: Calgary Flames @ Vancouver Canucks, Saturday 10/13 8PM MT

by Mark Parkinson