Another surrendered game's first goal, another dismal opening frame, another comeback falls short in the 5-2 defeat
On a night the Calgary Flames honoured 1989 Stanley Cup goaltending hero Mike Vernon, the club turned back the clock to October.
Looking much like the squad that floundered and bumbled through the opening month, the Flames were dominated in a 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday at the Saddledome.
Completed passes were barely to be seen. Defensive miscues were everywhere. Basically, it was more of what had this team down near the bottom of the league standings.
Goaltending wasn’t the saviour but wasn’t the big issue with how the Flames surrendered the opening goal for the seventh consecutive game, and 15th of their last 18 outings. As well, the Flames have trailed in 20 of their last 21 games.
In the first outing after number-one goalie Jacob Markstrom was sidelined by a broken finger suffered in practice, Dan Vladar surrendered the first shot he faced and allowed two more goals early in the second period before being hooked. You can argue it was a mercy pull considering how Vladar kept his team in the game in the first period.
Dustin Wolf, who received the loudest ovation of the night when he took the net, stopped 11 shots in relief.
Goals by Mikael Backlund and Connor Zary didn’t make the result respectable, just took away a shutout for Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson and a team that has now won four consecutive games since John Hynes took the head coaching reins.