Arizona, which sits last in the entire league, arrives in Calgary after Thursday's 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks, although coach Andre Tourigny was not going to rip apart his players publicly.
"I liked the way we played in the third period," said Tourigny, noting his team surrendered only 27 shots on goal. "We showed more pride in the third period, and to me that's our team. That's the way we have to fight. We talked about it before the game, and we got better on that."
Part of the reason Tourigny remains cognizant of his charges is the fact they are missing a slew of key players -- including Clayton Keller, Lawson Crouse, Christian Fischer, Jakob Chychrun and Antoine Roussel -- while playing out the string with many young players trying to prove they can skate at the NHL level.
A 6-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday was a huge embarrassment for the Calgary Flames.
The Flames would have clinched a playoff spot with a win against Vegas, but instead saw their five-game winning streak end emphatically in the type of game that should snap everybody back to attention for the task at hand.
“This is a team that’s still figuring out what it’s like to have the opportunity to get in,” said coach Darryl Sutter, who said his squad lacked urgency and emotion.
“The last three days have been about individual achievement instead of team achievement,” Sutter added.
“I’d seen it in the last couple of days,” he said on Thursday. “Urgency, energy, emotion, those things … I think one team was way more focused and more urgent.”
They’ll have another chance to turn things around on Saturday and, potentially, secure a playoff spot with a Hockey Night in Canada clash against the Arizona Coyotes, a team that has lost five in a row.
And it could be an interesting one, especially with the way their personnel has struggled. Jacob Markstrom, for one, was pulled in his second consecutive game and didn’t appear as sharp as he normally is.
Their air-tight defence has been leaky lately. Their top line was held off the scoresheet entirely on Thursday.
Last edited by Cheese; 04-16-2022 at 11:22 AM.
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I find it remarkable that Keller has 28 goals and over 60 points on the league's worst offense. He his literally no help, and he would have eclipsed 30 goals if he didn't get injured.
Kid is a player, now they either have to build around him or move him to continue this rebuild.
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Cheese: your Game Day posts just get better and better.
So, the Coyotes are looking for a new den. Unfortunately for this coyote, he encounters the Landlords from Hell in his search. Talk about a "damage deposit":
Spoiler!
Go Flames
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Hopefully the team is a lot more focused tonight. After playing a few game games without their normal top 6, they looked off an rusty on the backend last game. So hopefully they can rediscover the chemistry that those pairs had earlier in the season.
Sutter is right in that they maybe got a bit bug eyed over those Individual accomplishments and got away from some of the things that were making them successful as a team. First time this season where they have played a team who pretty much need the win to keep their season alive, and got caught with their pants down. So I really don't look at the game tonight as a measuring stick to see if they are the same old Flames of years past, but more to the Nashville and Dallas games next week.
Another excellent Game Thread Cheese, and watching those puppet video's early in the morning generally put me in a better mood for the day. Great work guys.
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Gotta seal the deal tonite so we can get a miniscule amount of West and wecovery as Elmer Fudd would put it.
Let's drop the anvil on the yotes get our clinching points and unflinch our butts for a moment and get ready for PLAYOFFS and a wild spring thaw ride into summer.
Please Flames take this game as a gift and win so we can get in baby!!!
GFG
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If I recall correctly I believe way back in 2004 the Flames clinched their playoff spot against the Coyotes. And we all remember what happened after that.
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Glad Ruzicka is back in . Nothing against Carpenter but Adam needs a little more polish and he'll be a great playoff performer.
I hope we also see some points from thr back end today . Our D when able to activate is scary good.
I just hope our forwards can forecheck , keep some pressure on, backcheck to Give our D a chance at quicker transitions....
I've hated watching teams play 1-3-1 against us as its completely neutered our offense.
Gotta be quicker on the attack too. First to thr puck and smart with the puck.
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ARIZONA COYOTES AT CALGARY FLAMES 8:00pm TV: CBC, SN, CITY, TVAS2, - RADIO SN960
