MacKenzie Weegar had nobody to pass the puck to.<\/p>\n
With just over 90 seconds left in the third period and the Calgary Flames<\/a> tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Weegar couldn\u2019t corral a flying puck as he skated backwards into his own zone. When he finally came down with it, his only option was to try to clear it as three opponents closed in on him. He couldn\u2019t, and a second later the puck was in the back of the net.<\/p>\n That was it. The Blue Jackets (20-19-7) would add an empty-netter and beat the visiting Flames (19-23-4) 5-3.<\/p>\n Was it Weegar\u2019s fault? No, that wouldn\u2019t entirely be fair. He\u2019ll be kicking himself for not clearing the zone, but the rest of the Flames will be lamenting the fact that the veteran blueliner was left without an outlet to get rid of the puck, as well.<\/p>\n And wherever you choose to assign blame for the Blue Jackets\u2019 winner, the Flames were left with lots of regrets about letting a precious opportunity for points slip through their fingers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get to the point where it\u2019s 3-3 late in the game like that on the road, you have to find a way to get a point,\u201d Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters. \u201cAt the end of the day, that\u2019s what this one comes down to.\u201d<\/p>\n The Flames are desperate for points and needed to at least get Tuesday night\u2019s game to overtime. They\u2019ve now gone 1-3-0 on the first four games of a five-game road-trip that wraps up in Chicago on Thursday night and could be seven points out of a playoff spot by the time they wake up on Wednesday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n They needed 94 seconds without allowing a goal to get themselves to overtime and secure at least a point. Whoever was to blame, not getting it done hurts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe at least have gotta get one point there,\u201d said Rasmus Andersson, the Flames\u2019 best player on the night. \u201cUnfortunate play, but yeah, we battled. We battled and we came up short. We\u2019ve got to find ways to win.\u201d<\/p>\n Here are three takeaways from Tuesday\u2019s defeat in Columbus:<\/p>\n STAR OF THE SHOW<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just that Andersson scored the Flames\u2019 second goal. That tied the game in the second period after the Blue Jackets had stormed out to a 2-0 lead in the first.<\/p>\n On its own, bagging his ninth lamp-lighter of the season \u2014 just two behind his career \u2014 in only 45 games would have been notable.<\/p>\n But Andersson also acted as the catalyst for the Flames starting their comeback in the first place.<\/p>\n After a listless first period, Andersson dropped the gloves early in the second with the Blue Jackets\u2019 Boone Jenner. The impact of fights as momentum-shifters can be overstated, but it really did work for the Flames this time around.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting out of his comfort zone,\u201d said Flames captain Mikael Backlund. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that was his third or fourth fight of his career and that was a great time to do it and step up for his teammates and bring some energy and then score a big goal.\u201d<\/p>\n It was, in fact, the fourth fight of Andersson\u2019s NHL career. The last time he scrapped was in the 2022 playoffs against the Dallas Stars\u2019 John Klingberg. His last regular-season fight came back in 2019 when he squared off with Brayden Schenn in a game against the St. Louis Blues.<\/p>\n POWERING UP<\/p>\n All three of the Flames\u2019 goals against the Blue Jackets came on the power-play.<\/p>\n It was the first time the Flames have managed to score three goals in a game with the man-advantage since a matchup with the Los Angeles Kings on March 30, 2024, and only the sixth time they\u2019ve managed the feat in the 2020s.<\/p>\n That\u2019s significant for a number of reasons, most notably that coming into the game the Flames had the worst power-play in the NHL this season and had scored on only 13.6% of their opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guys that scored those goals were working, that\u2019s pretty much it,\u201d Huska told reporters. \u201cThey outworked the penalty kill when they were on the ice and they used each other the right way and kept it simple. It\u2019s nice to see them get rewarded.\u201d<\/p>\n With Morgan Frost breaking out of 12-game goalless slump and Mikael Backlund adding a third-period marker to go along with Andersson\u2019s goal, the Flames power-play got some badly needed relief.<\/p>\n They\u2019d gone five games without scoring on the man-advantage, going 0-for-12 over that stretch.<\/p>\n The Blue Jackets do have the NHL\u2019s fourth-worst penalty-kill, it\u2019s worth noting.\u00a0<\/p>\n FIGHTING IT<\/p>\n When Frost scored his second-period goal, Nazem Kadri became the only everyday Flames forward who hasn\u2019t potted one since Christmas.<\/p>\n The veteran centre has gone 11 games without a goal and is on pace this season to fall significantly short of the 35 tallies he managed for the Flames last season.<\/p>\n Kadri is far from the only Flames player who is struggling right now and he did manage three shots on net against the Blue Jackets, at least. He tends to keep a cool head about these things, but he\u2019s probably got the best eye for goal of anyone on the roster and he needs to start finding the back of the net if his team is going to have any chance of salvaging their season.<\/p>\n