Deja vu for the Flames in Washington loss

The Calgary Flames went back in time in Monday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals.

While the feel-good story of the game was how former Flames forward Matthew Phillips sparked the Washington comeback — with Capitals goaltender Darcy Kuemper delivering an outstanding performance in his first game since becoming a father a sweet sidebar — the rest of the outing was same-old, same-old for the Flames.

Let us count the ways how the defeat was deja vu to last season.

Flames take a well-earned lead and even make it 2-0 only to see it disappear. Adding insult is how both Washington goals came on the heels of missed golden chances to extend the lead.

Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom makes several fantastic saves, yet surrenders one groaner of a goal.

Flames outshoot their opponents by a crazy margin — in this case, 40-23.

Flames are unable to convert not just one, but two late third-period power plays and net a potential game-winning goal.

Flames fall in extra time. (For a reminder, last season they posted a 7-17 record in extra-time games, 2-5 in shootouts).

The Flames were the better team in five-on-five play, are showing signs of finding their form, but all of those reasons last year’s squad fell short of expectations were front and center in a game they should not have lost.

Here are other thoughts from the second loss in as many outings to kick off this five-game road swing.

Good on Matthew Phillips

Do we really need to re-hash the the history with Phillips and the Flames? In a nutshell, diminutive hometown kid, sixth-round pick, lights up AHL, barely receives even a cursory look with the big club, signs elsewhere as a free agent. It is a classic example of wasting an asset under the former Flames group, especially coach Darryl Sutter who could never be told who to play.

To his credit, Phillips is smart enough to know it is not worth being anything but humble.

“Feels pretty good, I’ll leave it at that,” was his response when asked how it felt to net his first NHL goal in a two-point performance that sent his team to victory.

Regardless of how anybody feels about how his time with the Flames went, it was a great moment for Phillips.

C-NOTES: It is non-sensical that Jonathan Huberdeau and Elias Lindholm can not click as line mates. Both are smart, skilled players. Sure, they do not play a high-speed game, which is part of what the club is searching for to put on the right wing, Even so, the lack of success is mind boggling … It would be foolish to expect Nazem Kadri to be an 87-point player as he was in his final season with the Colorado Avalanche. That said, he must contribute much more than shown through the first three games … How to gauge the Flames power play? Calgary has scored one goal in each game to start the season, but has barely generated scoring chances on most of the 11 man-advantage opportunities, especially the first unit … Calgary has scored first in all three games so far this season, for what that is worth … Noah Hanifin had by far his best game of the season in Washington, and it has nothing to do with the pair of assists he collected … Holding Alex Ovechkin to no shots on goal, as Calgary did in Washington, is a mean feat. With how he moves on the ice — about as quickly as Evgeny Kuznetsov did in the shootout — Ovechkin may have more of those games this season.