So, about those Calgary Flames’ scoring issues …
Maybe they’re not over them, after all.
The Flames might have found ways to light the lamp in the final week of October and the early days of November, but their inability to puck pucks in the back of the net reared its ugly head again this weekend.
After getting shut out in embarrassing fashion by the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night, it happened again on Sunday in Minnesota when the Flames (4-11-2) fell 2-0 to the Wild (7-7-3).
That’s six periods without a goal, or 120 minutes and 49 seconds of game time since Mikael Backlund scored into an empty net against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.
You can’t win if you don’t score, and the Flames’ persistent goal-scoring struggles remain the biggest reason why they’re dead-last in the NHL right now. No team in the league is scoring less than the 2.05 goals per game the Flames have managed this season.
“They scored goals, we didn’t,” Flames captain Mikael Backlund said after the loss to the Wild. “We had some looks but didn’t bury and yeah, it’s hard to win when you don’t score goals.”
Sometimes, things aren’t that complicated. The Flames had lots of shots. They had a couple of solid opportunities. They played well defensively for the most part and got some outstanding goaltending.
But they didn’t score. It’s been an issue all season and in spite of a brief reprieve a week ago, it was as bad as it gets this weekend.
Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s defeat to the Wild:
ABOUT THE OFFENCE
It’s not like the Flames were completely outclassed on Sunday.
They outshot the Wild 35-19 and had long stretches where they spent considerably more time in the offensive zone than they did defending.
And yet, they had nothing to show for it.
The Flames know the way they need to play if they’re going to find success. They need to get pucks in deep and get bodies in front of the net. That, more than anything, was the challenge against the Wild.
“I liked a lot of our game tonight,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “We’re not finding a way to score, which you have to do in close games like this. You have to find a way to get one by, obviously, that goes without saying.”
The Flames aren’t loaded with offensive talent that’s going to take over games. It’s going to take group efforts for them to win, which makes it unfair to pinpoint one or two players who aren’t producing enough individually.
But collectively, they definitely need more.
Flames defenceman Mackenzie Weegar works the puck away from Wild forward Matt Boldy while Flames goaltender Devin Cooley keeps watch during Sunday’s game.
COOLEY SPARKLES AGAIN
He doesn’t play enough to be a major story, but Devin Cooley deserves some shine.
Backing up Dustin Wolf, Cooley has given the Flames a chance to win every game he’s played in this season.
He was excellent on Sunday night, too. He only faced 18 shots, but he turned away 17 of them and came up with big saves in big moments.
“I thought Devin played very well for us,” Huska said. “He made key saves for us at (important) times, especially in the first period. He was really solid for us, again.”
Cooley has now appeared in five games for the Flames this year and while he hasn’t managed to pick up a win, he’s got a 1.75 goals-against-average and .935 save-percentage.
There can be no complaints about those numbers or the job Cooley is doing in general.
WHAT HURT MOST
The Flames’ offence is obviously a work-in-progress.
The biggest disappointment on Sunday might have been the power-play, though.
It’s not just that they went 0-for-3 with the man advantage, it was also that they had two five-on-four opportunities in the third period while down 1-0 and never really came close to converting.
Those are moments where you need your best players to step up, and it just didn’t happen.
“You need one there,” Huska told reporters. “That’s a situation where we needed to step up and (someone) get us one. They had some zone-time with it, but there was nothing really threatening with our time on the power-play in the third.”
The Flames have converted on only 11.66% of their power-plays this season, which is the lowest in the league.