The coach called some of his players dopey and blamed several bad penalties on the loss.
Fact is, the minutiae of the Calgary Flames’ latest in a string of four losses is irrelevant, as it’s just a slightly different spin on the same old story of late.
How they lost is secondary to figuring out how this group can possibly keep the faith — not just that it can pull off a miracle to get back into the playoff race, but that it can somehow find ways to score goals again under their new structure.
A 3-2 loss Friday to a formidable Winnipeg squad puts the Flames’ goal tally at four over their last four outings, leaving them four points back of fourth-place Montreal, which has four games in hand.
At a scoring clip like that Jacques Plante couldn’t save this bunch.
Both Flames goals came from redirects two feet from the goal line, on a night when the Flames had just five high danger scoring chances.
The Jets had nine.
Don’t pay attention to the score — this one wasn’t close.
Perhaps the game — and the Flames’ situation these days — was best summed up by a solid opening eight minutes in which the Flames only managed to muster a single shot on goal.
Their anemic offence, which is now based around winning puck battles following dump-ins, isn’t generating any semblance of sustained pressure of late.
“You’ve got to play with pace,” said Sutter when asked about how his players can maintain belief in a system they haven’t had any success with of late. “The system, all it is, is faster than the one they were playing, and that’s difficult to grasp. It has nothing to do with anything else. The scoring chances were on the forecheck and very little on the rush, which indicates the puck isn’t moving fast enough or some of our players aren’t.”
Yet, there were the Flames, fighting back from a 2-0 second intermission deficit, to make it interesting after Milan Lucic had one pinball off him and Josh Morrissey in the crease with 13 minutes left.
With eight minutes remaining Lucic was whistled for boarding Mason Appleton, drawing attention from Neal Pionk, who was promptly decked by a Lucic right hand.
While Lucic served four minutes in the box Jacob Markstrom complicated comeback efforts by firing the puck into the stands for a delay of game penalty that gave one of the NHL’s best power plays an easy five-on-three goal by Paul Stastny.
That goal stood as the game-winner, as a Matthew Tkachuk goal with the goalie pulled and two minutes remaining, created a façade this one was a nail biter.
Not in the least.
“The five-on-three is clearly the difference in the game,” said Sutter, who could be seen behind the bench vehemently disagreeing with the extra roughing call Lucic received.
“Obviously tonight the difference is we took a dumb high sticking penalty (by Dillon Dube) and they scored on it right away (10 minutes into the game), then we took a shoot it out of play for a five-on-three.
“We had some real dopey players in the first period — it cost us the game. We had some dopey players who didn’t wake up until we were down a goal, which is unfortunate. The urgency is there when we’re down a goal but you have to have the strength and mental toughness to play through that. You don’t always have the lead.”
Illustrating his point is the fact the Flames had just 13 shots on goal after two periods before perking up for the third period with a level of desperation missing in the opening 40.
Sutter has certainly fixed the team’s glaring work ethic issues since he’s arrived, but the trade-off is that an increased demand on details appears to be affecting the creativity and finish of a team that rarely looks dangerous offensively anymore.
The Flames, who are now 4-5 under Sutter, host Winnipeg again Saturday and Monday.
“Lose another one-goal game,” said a pensive Lucic, whose post-game body language understandably suggested this team is out of answers and, likely, hope.
“It sucks because we’re running out of time and running out of games. We’ve got to start getting in the win column if we’re going to have any sort of chance.”
To do that they’ll have to figure out how to get it in the net first.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
