Before the Calgary Flames hit the ice Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Johnny Gaudreau discussed the importance of getting on a positive run.
In other words, not letting another game slip away as they had done on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
“You never want to lose back-to-back games in this league,” Gaudreau said. “It’s hard to catch up in the standings when you’re doing that. We put ourselves back in a good position. I think last year we did a great job — when we’d lose a game, we’d come back and we’d win three or four in a row.
“I think that’s something that we have to take away from last year.”
After a 4-1 loss to the Sidney Crosby-less Penguins, they’ll have to try it again on Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens.
The visitors built on a 2-1 lead in the third period with a pair of empty-netters to make this one look a lot further away than it was.
The Flames, who were on a seven-game winning streak prior to Saturday, are now 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and amid a mini-slump — if you want to call it that.
The last time they lost two straight was during a six-game winless skid last month. Arguably, however, the team was in a much different place back then and certainly didn’t resemble the same outfit on Tuesday.
“For us, it’s about game management right now,” Ward said. “There’s lots of positives we can take out of the hockey game. But the biggest thing for us is when it’s crunch time, we have to stay composed and we have to manage the game a little bit better.”
In two instances, specifically.
The first one came with 1:58 remaining from a sniffling and just-getting-over-the-flu Evgeni Malkin, who’ll always remember his 400th goal as a flick into an empty net.
“We get the puck and we’re back and waiting for the guys to swing back and get speed and they’re all standing at the blueline,” Ward explained. “So, as a result, when we move the puck up there, we’re standing still if we don’t get the chip deep and it ends up in our net.
“Little things like that where you have to stay on task and you just have to keep managing the game.”
The second one?
That came 20 seconds later from Kris Letang — who was the eventual recipient of Derek Ryan’s lost puck battle high along the boards — firing it down to Calgary’s end from behind Pittsburgh’s goal-line.
“We get the puck in and we miss the net and rim the puck to the back of the net,” Ward said. “We’ve got a guy standing there, and instead of attacking the guy with the puck, he just backs off and lets him step out and shoot the puck down the length of the ice.”
In both situations, Ward said, the Flames could have made plays.
“It didn’t happen for us and, as a result, it ends up in our net,” he said. “That’s what I mean. When you’re in tight games and you’re doing those types of things, you just have to stay composed and make sure you’re doing the things you need to do.”
All of a sudden, a 2-1 game turned into another blip on their schedule that features only three more games before the Christmas break.
It seemed promising off the start, however, as Calgary flew out of the gates, producing their best period of the season — yes, even better than Saturday’s opening frame in the eventual 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
They out-shot the visitors 17-6. That was the highest shot total of a first period in 2019-20 (they had 16 in an eventual 5-0 loss at St. Louis on Nov. 9). One of those attempts was an absolute beauty by Gaudreau which put the home side up 1-0 with 3:55 remaining.
The 26-year-old had just finished off a superb defensive play — and a tremendous chirping session with Joseph Blandisi — all the way up and down the ice. He danced with the puck, through the neutral zone, left a drop-pass for Mikael Backlund who fed Tobias Rieder. Rieder passed it across to Gaudreau who was waiting backdoor on Tristan Jarry.
Gaudreau also had another splendid set-up of Sean Monahan who missed the net with just over five minutes left in the third period.
They had their looks in the second, too.
After Kris Letang was upended behind the Penguins net, Dillon Dube and Milan Lucic jumped at the chance for a two-on-oh.
However, the linemates were playing hot potato with the puck and passed it one too many times, allowing Jarry to read the play and make the save. It was one of their best chances of the period — and, of the game.
But in the span of 1:22, just before that opportunity, the Penguins tied it and scored the go-ahead marker.
First, some patient puck movement by Penguins centre Dominik Kahun on the powerplay led to some passing between the blueliners. With TJ Brodie stepping onto the ice — after taking a suspect interference penalty when he ran into a Penguins player heading off the ice for changing — Kahun found Marcus Pettersson who sent it across to John Marino. Marino found a spot just under Cam Talbot’s arm.
Then, with Talbot in the crouch position, Bryan Rust scored on a wide wrap around — a blooper which Talbot desperately wanted back.
The Flames, meanwhile, desperately wanted back a pair of empty netters scored on turnovers 20 seconds apart, making this one look a lot further out of reach than it actually was.
In the end, Talbot, playing in his first game since Dec. 10 at Arizona and only his ninth start this season, faced 31 Penguins shots while Jarry turned aside 33 of 34 for the Sidney Crosby-less squad from Pittsburgh.
“I thought he played well,” Ward said. “He made some big stops when he had to. I almost look at it like we need to give him a little bit more run support . . . I don’t really think you can fault our goaltender on what happened tonight.”
A HALL OF A PLAYER
Of all the people who have an opinion on Taylor Hall and his eventual landing spot in the Sonoran Desert with the Arizona Coyotes, Geoff Ward’s is one that carries some weight.
Ward coached the 28-year-old for two seasons from 2016-2018 when he was on the New Jersey Devils coaching staff.
“He’s a real good player,” he said. “I give him an awful lot of credit, and I give (former Devils head coach) John Hynes an awful lot of credit … After Taylor’s first year with us in Jersey, I know John and him had some meetings in the summer and they came to some agreement and he came back that year and won the MVP.
“I think he really made a big transition as a player.”
And, now, Ward, as interim head coach of the Flames, will hear a heckuva lot more about Hall now that he is back in the Pacific Division in Arizona.
The Flames, by the way, have one more meeting against the Coyotes this season — March 6 at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Hall, according to Ward, is a bonafide NHL star in every sense of the word.
“They’re getting what you would fully expect out of a player of that stature coming into your room,” Ward said. “He’s a team player. He’s a guy who can play both ends of the ice. And he’s a guy that will fit in and make the players around him better, and that’s often the mark of a real strong hockey player is that he makes players around him better.
“And Taylor will do that in Arizona, for sure.”
BENNY’S BACK
Sam Bennett returned to the Flames lineup for the first time since Nov. 16 at Arizona.
That was the scene of a frustrating shoulder injury which caused him to miss the last 13 games.
“We just told him to play to his strengths … We tell all our guys when they’re coming back in, ‘Just be yourself, play your game,'” said Ward of the 23-year-old’s comeback. “I think simple is better right now, so just come in and play simple, play hard, play in straight lines, be physical, chip in offensively when you can and be responsible away from the puck.”
That meant forward Zac Rinaldo was a healthy scratch along with Mark Jankowski, who joined defenceman Michael Stone in the press box on this night.
Also sitting out?
Austin Czarnik, who is healthy and recovered from a lower body injury.
“When I talked to him today, he knows exactly where he sits,” Ward said. “He’s healthy now, he’s ready to be available for selection … Right now, he just has to be better than one of the 12 who is in. That process is going to take a little bit of time. I’m not saying he’s not right now, but we’re going to let that play out through some practices for him and some game situations for some other guys and then we’ll make those decisions on a daily basis from here.”
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