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The Calgary Flames hit posts, they had two goals called back and they threw everything they had at the St. Louis Blues net.
There have been losses recently where it hasn’t felt like the Flames (33-34-5) gave their best effort, but Thursday night wasn’t one of them.
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They wound up with a 5-3 loss just the same, but with their playoff hopes gone and 10 games left in the season, there’s still something to be said for the Flames going out and competing the way they did on Thursday night against a Blues (39-30-4) team that’s still got everything to play for.
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Maybe it takes some rose-coloured glasses to look at it that way, but what’s the alternative? Doom and gloom?
Thursday’s game didn’t merit that approach, especially when they came oh-so-close to scoring a tying goal a handful of times in the third period against the Blues.
Photo by Dilip Vishwanat /Getty Images
“I thought guys kept fighting to the end,” Flames winger Blake Coleman told Flames TV in St. Louis. “I had multiple chances I should have put away but didn’t. We had good individual efforts we didn’t reward them for.
“The reality of our situation right now is what it is. We’re just coming to work and trying to improve and I thought some guys played really good games tonight and certainly I thought the effort was there.”
Andrei Kuzmenko thought he had a hat-trick, only for the referees to rule that he’d high-sticked the puck before scoring.
Yegor Sharangovich thought he’d tied it, too, but replays clearly showed that Matthew Coronato hadn’t managed to keep the puck in the Blues zone before the goal. The Flames were offside. No goal.
There were a couple shots that ringed off the post behind Jordan Binnington, too, so it’s not like the Flames didn’t put up a fight.
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But for the fifth game in a row, they wound up on the losing end of the scoreline anyways. They’ve now lost eight of their last 10, too, and they’re a full 15 points back of the Vegas Golden Knights, who are sitting in the Western Conference’s second wild card position. This can probably be the last time we mention the post-season race — it won’t be.
For those who are more focused on the NHL’s Draft lottery, the loss keeps the Flames on 71 points, the eighth-least in the NHL.
The Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens are right behind them with 68 apiece, though.
Now, though, the Flames return to Calgary for Saturday night’s matchup with the Los Angeles Kings.
Maybe they’ll have some better luck in that game. It certainly felt like it wasn’t on their side against the Blues.
And this hasn’t been true every game recently, but it kind of felt like the Flames might have deserved better than what the final scoreline suggested on Thursday night.
“I think we deserved better,” Flames winger Jonathan Huberdeau told Flames TV in St. Louis. “I think we didn’t give up. We played a solid game, a couple mistake here and there but at the end of the day … we stuck to it, we pushed. I hit the post, there were a couple chances, at the end of the day we’ve just got to capitalize.”
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Photo by Dilip Vishwanat /Getty Images
ICE CHIPS
It should probably be mentioned that Kuzmenko was pretty great against the Blues. He scored twice, and his first goal in particular is worth checking out if you missed it. He showed great awareness to steal the puck off Justin Faulk and then amazing patience to stickhandle the puck a few times before lifting it past Binnington. He had a very cool through-the-legs attempt late in the second period, too. Only Blake Coleman and Sharangovich have scored more goals for the Flames since Kuzmenko joined from the Vancouver Canucks at the end of January. He’s scored seven, they’ve both got eight … Joel Hanley and the Blues’ Nathan Walker dropped the gloves and had a spirited scrap in the second period, with both guys landing a good number of shots. Not sure how the judges would have scored it in the end. St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Matthew DeFranks pointed out on Twitter that it was actually the second fight between the two. They first squared off on November 28, 2022 when Hanley was with the Dallas Stars. That one was a good scrap, too … Andrew Mangiapane and Oliver Kylington both missed Thursday’s game for the Flames, although neither is expected to be out for long. Dryden Hunt came into the lineup to replace Mangiapane, while Hanley had his number called in place of Kylington.
daustin@postmedia.com
www.twitter.com/DannyAustin_9
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