After an opening night win against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, the Calgary Flames traveled to Vancouver to take on the Canucks on Thursday. With the same lineup as the night before, including Dustin Wolf in net, the Flames made far too many mistakes, allowing the Canucks to score five goals. Although they spoiled Thatcher Demko’s shutout bid, the Calgary Flames lost 5-1 to the Vancouver Canucks.
Out of the discussion about letting Wolf play again and Zayne Parekh back in the press box. There was a lot to talk about last night. Here are some of the key takeaways from the loss
Line-up decisions
In the second half of a back-to-back, Ryan Huska had the same lineup as the night before. We’re keeping the likes of Jake Bean and Brayden Pachal, which is causing a stir among the Flames fan base. Especially when the 2024 ninth overall pick is in the press box. Zayne Parekh is the best prospect this organization has had since Matthew Tkachuk. Keeping him in the press box night after night isn’t good for him, his confidence, or the Flames as a whole.
Second, having Dustin Wolf start again was a bit of a headache. The only major signing the Flames made this summer was adding backup goalie Ivan Prosvetov, but that was waived in favor of Devin Cooley, who ultimately got the job. It appears Cooley hasn’t earned the coaching staff’s trust yet, and they opted to play Wolf in back-to-back games early this year.
This is unsustainable and frankly wasteful this early in the season. Wolf is only 24 years old. If he overworks him now, he risks injuries and his career later. Take a look at the other California netminder across from him tonight. The Canucks overworked Thatcher Demko early in his career, and he suffered a major injury that sidelined him for quite some time. If this becomes a habit this season, it’s a big red flag for the team.
Reports say the Flames are looking to add a backup netminder, but if they don’t believe in Cooley, they need to do it quickly. No one in the NHL is like Miikka Kiprusoff, and it’s unfair to expect Wolf to be superhuman.
Slow play and mistakes
Considering it was the second game of the season and the second half of a back-to-back, it was understandable that the group as a whole slowed down after the first twenty minutes. This is again where the lineup decisions come into play. Not having fresh legs at your disposal, especially if they were better than players on the ice.
Out of the gates the team looked good. They were quick on their feet and kept up with the Canucks. As the second period began, there was a clear difference: Calgary was starting to fall behind, especially since they were already down 1-0. They were never really able to get back into the game after that, as they were always a step or two behind Vancouver the rest of the way.
Constant mistakes, losing puck battles and getting overpowered, it was just a sloppy performance. Losing one of your stronger defenders in Kevin Bahl due to an unfortunate jump on the second goal certainly doesn’t help either. The team wants to improve on last season, as they have stated several times. If that’s the case, they need to clean up and tighten up their game and stop making mistakes. For every mistake they made, the Canucks struck many times and capitalized. If you look at the team’s actual play, it wasn’t all that different from last season.
What’s next for the Flames?
It appears the scoring issues that plagued Calgary last year are still with us. Only one goal scored thanks to Morgan Frost in “garbage time” when the match was already over. But if you look at this team this season, they haven’t scored a single serious goal in their first two games. Against the Edmonton Oilers, the first goal came from a skate, then a high stick on the boundary, followed by a classic Stuart Skinner blunder. Last night, Frost’s goal was a shot that deflected off a Canuck before it went in. Now a goal is a goal, but this team is on a streak of luck that is highly unsustainable.
Kevin Bahl’s injury was extremely unfortunate. He was playing excellent hockey, coming off an extension and going down after taking a puck to the head. Calgary can only hope he isn’t out for the long haul.
The Flames next play the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, with puck drop scheduled for 2:00 PM MT.
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