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One game left. Three periods. Sixty minutes.
The Calgary Flames can see the goal line. It may not have been the finish line they wanted to run toward at the beginning of the season, but they’ll find it Thursday night in their game against the San Jose Sharks at the Saddledome.
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The focus will immediately shift to building toward the future and any potential that may be unlocked in June’s draft and whether general manager Craig Conroy will be a player in free agency.
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With that in mind, it’s hard to get too upset that the Flames fell 4-1 to the host. Vancouver Canucks On tuesday night.
The Canucks clinched first place in the Pacific Division and could still finish atop the Western Conference. The Flames will begin their long summer break Thursday night.
The Flames made an effort in the third period after Brayden Pachal scored to make it 3-1, but it wasn’t much. The Canucks are simply a better team with more to play for right now.
“We’ve been in that situation too, it’s never an easy situation,” Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. “They are playing for the division and we have nothing to play for, so obviously they are going to sit back a little bit and we are going to press, that’s how the game happens sometimes. I thought they did a good job of keeping us out of their network.”
It feels like it’s been a long season for the Flames, who remained in the playoff hunt until the trade deadline but ultimately couldn’t compete after their top-line center and three of their top six defensemen were traded. .
The guys in the locker room have put on a brave face and have continued working, but it has not been an easy campaign.
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Now, everyone just needs to spend 60 more minutes and then the focus will be on building something better.
ICE CHIPS
Tuesday’s game against the Canucks marked the 200th of Oliver Kylington’s NHL career. It seems worth acknowledging for any player, but especially for a guy like Kylington who had to overcome a lot to get back on the ice after taking more than a season off to take care of his mental health… He never turned the controller at any point. moment. significantly, but things definitely got ugly Tuesday night in Vancouver. The most notable fight came near the end of the second period when Nils Hoglander gave Brayden Pachal a good shot in the upper chest with his stick. It was initially considered important, but was reduced to two minutes after the referees got a better look at the replay. “I’m lucky he’s a little 5-foot-3, otherwise he would have punched me in the face,” Pachal joked when asked about the incident. Guys on both sides went to their teammates’ defenses, Adam Klapka and Conor Garland engaged in misconduct… While it never looked like the Flames were going to mount a heroic comeback, there were a couple of moments that could have changed the game. impulse. It looked like Jonathan Huberdeau had scored early in the third period and the puck was passed to Thatcher Demko, but Quinn Hughes came up to clear it off the line at the last possible second. It was a one-on-one play from a guy who could very well be the best defenseman in the NHL this season.
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