Kuzmenko scores twice but two disallowed goals crushes Flames' minimal hopes for playoff possibility
Everyone outside of the Calgary Flames organization is resigned to the fate of the franchise this season. Exciting wins are for playoff teams. Exciting losses are preferred for those who only hurt their draft lottery chances with additional points.
Just don’t tell those in and around the locker-room.
On Thursday night, the Flames played like a team in a bitter battle for a taste of the post-season. And with a little more puck luck, they might have earned a victory.
Unfortunately for them and their razor-thin, matter-of-time playoff chances, they took another massive blow with a 5-3 loss to the Blues in St. Louis.
The hits kept coming in the third period after the two wild card hopefuls entered the final 20 minutes knotted at three goals apiece.
Too many to give up, for sure, but the Flames still had a shot.
For a brief time, it looked like they’d taken over. Andrei Kuzmenko scored what looked like (and should have been) his first hat-trick as a Flame. Parked in front of the Blues net, Kuzmenko stuck a loose puck past Jordan Binnington.
Problem was the referee assumed Kuzmenko knocked the puck out of the air with a high stick first. It was actually defenceman Matthew Kessel who batted it down, but the play wasn’t reviewable because that connection took place before the goal itself.
Shortly thereafter, Brandon Saad scored what turned out to be the winning goal.
The Flames thought they had the tying goal less than 30 seconds later on a goalmouth scramble as Yegor Sharangovich pocketed a loose puck after Rasmus Andersson’s wraparound attempt.
Wrong again.
The Blues challenged and the play was ruled offside.
It was a heck of an opening few minutes.
The Flames didn’t quit. An empty netter by Pavel Buchnevich with a little more than a minute in regulation ended it.
“I thought we kept pushing. You have to make sure that gets ingrained in you, that no matter what the situation is, you keep pushing,” Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters in St. Louis after the game. “I bet you, to a man, our guys were pleased with the way they pushed.
“That’s what we want to see from them.”
The Flames, though, have lost five straight and have been outscored 21-9 in that span. Playoff elimination could come this weekend.
We’ll see if they keep pushing.
