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The Calgary Flames hit the posts, had two goals disallowed and threw everything they had into the St. Louis Blues net.
There have been losses recently where it didn’t feel like the Flames (33-34-5) gave it their best effort, but Thursday night wasn’t one of them.
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They ended up with a 5-3 loss anyway, but with their playoff hopes gone and with 10 games left in the season, there’s still something to be said about the Flames coming out and competing like they did Thursday night against The Blues. (39-30-4) team that still has everything to play for.
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You might need rose-colored glasses to see it that way, but what’s the alternative? Pessimism?
Thursday’s game didn’t deserve that approach, especially when they came very close to scoring the tying goal several times in the third period against the Blues.
“I thought the guys kept fighting until the end,” Flames winger Blake Coleman told Flames TV in St. Louis. “I had multiple opportunities that I should have taken advantage of but I didn’t. We made good individual efforts for which we did not reward them.
“The reality of our situation right now is what it is. “We just come to work and try to get better and I thought some guys played really good games tonight and I certainly thought the effort was there.”
Andrei Kuzmenko thought he had a hat-trick, but the referees ruled that he had hit the puck high before scoring.
Yegor Sharangovich thought he had tied it too, but replays clearly showed that Matthew Coronato had failed to keep the puck in the Bleus zone before the goal. The Flames were offside. No goal.
There were also a couple of shots that clattered off the post behind Jordan Binnington, 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 still ended up on the losing side of the scoreboard. They have also now lost eight of their last 10, and are 15 points behind the Vegas Golden Knights, who occupy the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. This will probably be the last time we mention the postseason race; it will not be.
For those more focused on the NHL Draft lottery, the loss keeps the Flames at 71 points, eighth-fewest in the NHL. However, the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens are right behind them with 68 each.
Now, however, the Flames return to Calgary for Saturday night’s matchup against the Los Angeles Kings.
Maybe they’ll have better luck in that game. I certainly felt like they weren’t on their side against the Blues.
And this hasn’t been true in every game recently, but it looked like the Flames might have deserved better than the final score suggested on Thursday night.
“I think we deserved better,” Flames winger Jonathan Huberdeau told Flames TV in St. Louis. “I don’t think we gave up. We played a solid game, made a couple of mistakes here and there, but at the end of the day… we stood our ground, we pressed. I hit the post, there were a couple of opportunities, in the end we just have to capitalize.”
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ICE CHIPS
It is worth mentioning that Kuzmenko was quite good against the Blues. He scored twice, and it’s worth checking out his first goal in particular if you missed it. He showed great awareness to steal the puck from Justin Faulk and then amazing patience to manipulate the puck several times before passing it over Binnington. He also had a really cool attempt with his legs at the end of the second half. Only Blake Coleman and Sharangovich have scored more goals for the Flames since Kuzmenko arrived from the Vancouver Canucks in late January. He scored seven, they both scored eight… The Blues’ Joel Hanley and Nathan Walker took off the gloves and had a lively tussle in the second period, with both guys landing their fair share of shots. I’m not sure how the judges would have rated it in the end. St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Matthew DeFranks noted on Twitter that it was actually the second fight between the two. They first faced each other on November 28, 2022 when Hanley was with the Dallas Stars. That was a good fight, too… Andrew Mangiapane and Oliver Kylington both missed Thursday’s game for the Flames, although neither of them are expected to be out for long. Dryden Hunt came into the lineup to replace Mangiapane, while Hanley was called his number in place of Kylington.
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