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Flames Takeaways: Special teams leave Wolf high and dry in lopsided loss
Dustin Wolf’s 13 saves in the first allowed the Flames to escape with a tie. From there, the team killed themselves with three second-period penalties the Leafs cashed in on, leaving Wolf high and dry.
For casual observers who watched the score get run up from the comfort of an Irish bar, it needed to be said.
“By no means was this on him tonight,” declared Calgary Flames coach Ryan Huska after a 6-2 loss in Toronto Monday that saw Dustin Wolf get pulled for the first time in his career.
“At 5-1 we’ve got a lot of hockey in a short period of time. He’s gonna get a lot of games coming up, so it was just a decision we made to get Vladdy (Dan Vladar) in there and get him ready for his next start.”
That start will almost certainly come Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, where the Flames will play less than 24 hours after their St. Patrick’s Day loss to a team wearing the snazziest green (Toronto St. Pats) jerseys in the league since Hartford had a squad.
Lifted mercifully after two periods with the Flames down 5-1, Wolf was beaten on four one-timers in close, on which he had little hope.
Three came on the man advantage, two from defending Rocket Richard Trophy winner Auston Matthews and no one should be silly enough to blame any of it on the goalie.
Or fatigue.
Wolf’s 13 saves in the first period allowed Calgary to escape with a 1-1 tie, courtesy of a late Rasmus Andersson goal finished with his rink-side death stare.
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From there it was the Flames who killed themselves with three second-period penalties the Leafs cashed in on, leaving Wolf high and dry.
As upset as the Calder Trophy frontrunner was with the result, the fact that it was the first time in the 23-year-old’s NHL career Wolf had been lifted early served as a powerful reminder of how good he’s been.
“It’s pretty incredible actually,” said Huska, whose goaltender had gone 41 starts this year, and 56 in total, before getting his first hook.
“When you look at the body of work he’s put in all year long, he’s been very, very consistent. For a young goaltender, that’s something you have to tip your hat to, because it doesn’t happen all that often, really. He’s done a great job.”
Shame too, as one wonders how this will affect his standing amongst the large number of Toronto-area voters as they contemplate a tight Calder race.
“It’s too bad that coming into the hockey Mecca we couldn’t play a little bit better for him,” said MacKenzie Weegar.
“When the bright lights were on him we fell short in that area.”
A few more takeaways from the game that kicked off a four-game roadie that now winds its way through all three New York-area stops.
CHALLENGING TIME
Less than a minute after William Nylander opened the second period with a quick power-play strike, hometown boy Morgan Frost appeared to tie it 2-2. However, the Leafs challenged and had the goal overturned as replays clearly showed Nazem Kadri had entered the zone before the puck.
“It’s offside,” said Huska of the call.
“When you have video reviews on those challenges they don’t miss them on the offside.”
Did it affect the team’s chances of coming back?
“I don’t think it did,” said Huska.
“Of course you’d like to score that goal and make it a 2-2 game, but we came back and hit the post right after. At the end of the day it’s the discipline. You take some poor penalties and we weren’t able to kill them off.”
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NOT VERY SPECIAL TEAMS
Like Huska, Rasmus Andersson had a simple explanation for the team’s lopsided loss.
“Special teams — it’s as easy as that,” said the Flames defenceman, whose penalty kill unit allowed the Leafs power play to go three-for-three.
“Special teams, we just absolutely s— the bed tonight.”
The Flames power play was 0-for-4.
Feeling good about themselves at the first intermission, the Flames started losing control in the opening second of the middle frame when a Kadri penalty opened the floodgates.
“Obviously the disciplinary stuff in the second period,” said Weegar when asked where the game went sideways.
“Came back in the dressing room (after the first) feeling good… and then those penalties they took off and before you know it the game was pretty much out of reach.”
The Flames play the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
