Vegas Sends Calgary to Fourth Straight Loss With 6-0 Blanking Of Flames

Calgary Flames 0 – Vegas Golden Knights 6

Complete Stats

Scoring

Calgary Flames

1st: None

2nd: None

3rd: None

Vegas Golden Knights

1st: 10:44- Karlsson (7) (Smith/Schmidt)

2nd: 9:39- Stastny (6) (Schmidt/Theodore)

3rd: 8:13- Pacioretty (8) (Karlsson/Schmidt), 14:25- Eakin (1) (Marchessault), PPG 15:09- Stone (9) (Pacioretty), 17:28- Karlsson (8) (McNabb/Schmidt)

Recap

The Flames streak of futility in Las Vegas continued as the Flames fell to the Golden Knights 6-0 Sunday night. Calgary has now dropped all six games they’ve ever played in Vegas and that streak doesn’t look like it’s going to end any time soon.

Despite the final score this game wasn’t a total disaster……early on. Calgary came out and looked like a team that was firing on all cylinders and had some jump. The problem was and has been for a while, they couldn’t put the puck in the net. For 40 minutes Calgary had some solid chances, but Marc-Andre Fleury was not in a giving mood at all. The Flames out-shot the Golden Knights 25-24 over the first two periods, but still found themselves in a 2-0 hole after two periods thanks to goals by William Karlsson and Paul Stastny.

What this game lacked in offence and flow in the first two, it certainly made up with physical play. The Flames and Golden Knights were clearly frustrated with their play as of late and the multitude of scrums and almost fights showed that. The Golden Knights were extremely physical with the Flames, throwing 35 hits and getting under Calgary’s skin on many occasions.

While the Flames played well enough to still be in the contest heading to the third (mainly because of Cam Talbot) the dam broke in the final 20 minutes and Vegas walked away with a 6-0 victory. The Golden Knights got goals from Max Pacioretty, Cody Eakin, Michael Stone and William Karlsson to put the Flames away and snap a five game losing streak.

Final Thoughts

This is a hockey team without an identity or direction currently. It doesn’t seem to matter what goalie the Flames are facing lately, they all appear to be a brick wall. Calgary put 34 shots on goal, yet the red light never came close to going on.

The Flames two “best” players are playing like garbage. Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan were complete no-factors on the ice tonight. They combined for six SOG, two turnovers and were both a -5. That just can’t happen.

The Flames have now scored three goals on this current four game losing streak, while giving up 15. The good news is the Flames won’t have to come back to Vegas until next season as they played their last game at T-Mobile Arena for the season.

Flame Of The Game

Cam Talbot (G): Six goals allowed and he’s the player of the game? Yup. Talbot, again, had a solid performance in goal while, again, the team in front of him was trash. Calgary turned the puck over 7 times, a few of those leading to odd man rushes and goals. The Flames allowed Vegas to take 37 shots and of the six that found the back of the net, you could MAYBE fault Talbot on one of those. He made numerous saves early on to keep the Flames within striking distance when Vegas had a 2-0 lead, but at some point you knew that was going to end. Talbot has now started 6 games and his team has supplied him with six goals.

What’s Next?

11/19: Calgary Flames vs Colorado Avalanche, 7 PM MT

by Mark Parkinson