Ultimately, Saturday evening’s matchup between the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings went pretty much as expected.
The NHL’s two lowest-scoring teams were probably never going to deliver an offensive barnburner full of highlight-reel lamp-lighters.
Instead, the Kings (24-21-14) beat the Flames (24-28-6) by a 2-0 scoreline, with one of the hosts’ goals coming into an empty-net with 38 seconds left in regulation.
“They scored two goals, we didn’t score,” said Flames winger Adam Klapka, who was one of the better players for his team on the night. “I thought we had a lot of chances to win this game but couldn’t find a way to score. That’s the difference.”
Sometimes, it really is as simple as that. When you don’t score goals, you don’t win. The Flames have been reminded of that far too often this season. They’re currently dead-last in the NHL in goals scored with 144. Saturday marked the fourth-time they’ve been shut out this season.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
EMPTY BOX
There aren’t a tonne of silver linings to be found from a game like the one the Flames and Kings played on Saturday. There are lots of fans around Calgary who will probably be happy with the loss, given that they’re out of playoff contention and every defeat helps their odds in the draft lottery.
There were no penalties, though. That’s kind of interesting, maybe?
Neither the Flames or Kings had a single player penalized for anything. It’s the first time that’s happened in a Flames game this season. They had taken at least one penalty in every single game and have drawn at least one, too.
Anyone who watched the game closely would agree that there were a few calls that definitely could have resulted in guys being sent to the box, but that doesn’t do anyone much good at this point.
BUMPED UP
As mentioned earlier, Klapka was one of the Flames’ better player on the night.
He was going to the net hard, had three shots on net and four more that were either blocked or missed the target.
The Czech winger was effective enough that he spent the third period playing alongside Nazem Kadri — who was also good on Saturday — and Joel Farabee instead of being in his usual fourth-line role.
“I thought Adam was good,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “The one thing he did tonight was go to the net a lot. Him just being around the net gives us the ability to generate, which we were looking for tonight. We moved him up because Naz was creating on his own a bit, but having someone go to the net to create a little more traffic for him might help generate a goal.”
Klapka found success late last season playing alongside Kadri, so it could be interesting seeing him get more ice time in that role. Of course, there are lots of rumours about Kadri getting moved before the trade deadline this coming Friday, so there might not be much time to see what they look like together.
Flames goalie Dustin Wolf chases a loose puck during Saturday’s game.
WOLF GOOD, AGAIN
For the second straight game, Dustin Wolf looked really good.
He stopped 35-of-36 shots on the night and there really was nothing he could do on Alex Lafferiere’s opener for the Kings. A bad line-change by the Flames led directly to the goal, which came from a scramble where Wolf couldn’t possibly have had eyes on the puck.
It really does look like the Olympic break has done him wonders.
Expect Devin Cooley to start for the Flames on Sunday night against the Ducks in Anaheim, though.