Flames earned the booing from the fans a disinterested performance in their 3-0 defeat
Nikita Zadorov dropped the first truth bomb after he and the Calgary Flames lost 3-0 to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
“I just want to apologize to our fans. We’re playing like s—t right now,” Zadorov said.
Alternate captain Elias Lindholm fired the next truth bomb after his squad was booed off the ice by the few fans at the Saddledome who remained to the final buzzer.
“I would have booed too if I saw the way we played,” Lindholm said “We've played like s—t three games in a row.” (Four games, actually, but the point remains.)
Coach Ryan Huska, eight games into his post and already searching for answers, offered a third truth bomb.
“We just sucked tonight,” he said.
Pick a part of the game, any part, and the Flames fell well short in dropping a fourth consecutive outing that leaves them with one win in seven games.
It makes no sense to list them all, but the over-riding factor was the listlessness and lack of determination. Losing is one thing. Losing with a poor effort is unacceptable, and the fans have every right to let them know just that.
Now, the Flames and their 2-5-1 record head to Edmonton to face a just as dismal Oilers squad with a 1-5-1 mark in Sunday’s Heritage Classic outdoor game that has lost most of its lustre.
Here are three more thoughts after the latest Flames debacle:
Lack of attack: Calgary has scored just four goals in the four-goal skid, and gone 118 minutes and 45 seconds without tallying.
It feels like beating a dead horse, but the dearth of production from those among the highest-paid forwards in Jonathan Huberdeau (one goal in the last six games), Nazem Kadri (one assist in eight games), Elias Lindholm (1G 1A in six games) and Mikael Backlund (0G, 3A on the season) is dragging this team to the bottom of the standings. All the excuses are gone, notably the club fired former coach Darryl Sutter, and the time has come to lead the way.
What’s my line?: Yes, it is understandable Huska is trying to find combinations that work and will spark those aforementioned forwards (save for Backlund, whose line with Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman has been the team’s best trio). However, the non-stop line juggling can not be helping. While Huberdeau, Kadri and Lindholm are to blame for their struggles, flipping through new line mates from one period is doing little other than creating more chaos.
Don’t call it a classic: It will be curious over the next day or two watching whether tickets on the re-sale market for Sunday’s outdoor game in Commonwealth Stadium start to plummet. Between the combined record of the Flames and Oilers, the way they are both struggling and even the possibility Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid will not return from injury in time, the thrill of a Battle of Alberta in that setting has waned. Frankly, there is little belief the game will even be that entertaining. At least one team will actually experience the taste of victory.
