Calgary Flames (2) vs Toronto Maple Leafs (6): Sometimes You’re The Windshield, Sometimes You’re The Bug

Calgary Flames 2 – Toronto Maple Leafs 6

Complete Stats

Recap

Some nights you come to the rink and it’s your night and sometimes it’s not. Monday night was clearly NOT the Flames night. What was built up as a marque match up between two of the NHL’s best teams was….not. The Maple Leafs lived up to their end of the bargain and they sent the Flames their second straight defeat with a 6-2 victory at the Saddledome.

For most, if not all, of the night Calgary looked out of sync and not very confident. They missed passes. They fanned on multiple shots. They missed half open nets. They passed on shots and when they did shoot, there was Frederick Andersen. The 29 year old from Denmark was masterful on the night, only surrendering two goals on 37 shots.

I don’t really know what else to say regarding this contest other than Toronto came to play and Calgary didn’t. There were many defensive lapses that led to Toronto goals and when you’re playing short handed and one of your best penalty killers (Mikael Backlund) doesn’t have a stick bad things are bound to happen. Toronto outplayed Calgary and at the same time got some lucky bounces and when you’re that good you don’t need much else.

Scoring

Flames

1st: None

2nd: 15:35- (PPG) Tkachuk (26) (Gaudreau/Monahan)

3rd: 12:24- Ryan (7) (Giordano/Mangiapane)

Maple Leafs

1st: 9:50- (PPG) Ennis (10) (Muzzin/Kapanen), 17:15- Ennis (Marincin/Moore), 18:51- Hyman (15) (Marner)

2nd: 4:11- Hyman (16) (Marner/Rielly)

3rd: 3:15- Ennis (12) (Moore/Muzzin), 12:56- Marner (24) (Tavares)

Final Thoughts

When you look at the final score you’d think that David Rittich got lit up, but that’s not the case. As much as Mike Smith was responsible for the Flames resurgence as of late, David Rittich wasn’t totally to blame tonight. Yes, he surrendered six goals on 32 shots, but you could easily put three of those goals on the rest of the Flames team.

What was SUPER depressing about this contest was the amount of support for Toronto in the Flames home building. After every single save by Andersen you’d swear the Flames were playing on the road. Speaking of that, the ice was littered with hats after Tyler Ennis scored for the third time on the night. Not a good look for the home fans.

With the loss the Calgary lead over the San Jose Sharks is down to three points in both the conference and division.

Flame Of The Game

Matthew Tkachuk (F): Tkachuk scored his 26th goal of the season on the PP and really tried to make his presence felt. He looked like he was trying anything and everything to get the Flames mentally back into this game and started to look like the Matthew Tkachuk of old.

What’s Next?

3/6: Calgary Flames @ Vegas Golden Knights, 8:30 PM MT

by Mark Parkinson