It’s not the sort of assessment that you hear from Ryan Huska very often.
The Calgary Flames’ head coach expected that a few of his guys, specifically those who skated alongside the late Johnny Gaudreau, might have some struggles in what was always going to be an emotional affair Friday afternoon at Nationwide Arena.
But when Huska was asked about the overall effort from his squad in a 5-2 loss to the Blue Jackets in Columbus, he was blunt.
“We just didn’t have a lot of guys that were at their best this afternoon. We have a way that we have to play the game. And if it’s not there consistently, or if we’re looking for an easier brand of hockey, it doesn’t work for us. Today, I thought we were looking for the easier game.”
Blake Coleman and Nazem Kadri were Calgary’s goal-scorers in Columbus, where Gaudreau’s No. 13 was raised to the rafters on opening night. (Kadri, whose marker came on the man-advantage, still finished minus-4.)
Adam Fantilli tallied twice for the home team, while Kent Johnson and Zach Werenski also put pucks behind Dustin Wolf and Kirill Marchenko capped a three-point performance with an empty-netter.
Wolf faced too many odd-man rushes and high-danger chances, although he likely won’t be thrilled with his own work, either. The rookie netminder lost his post on Werenski’s game-winner, leaving himself way out of position on what stood as the game-winner.
Here are three takeaways from Friday’s defeat …
BLACK (AND BLUE) FRIDAY
Black Friday is mostly known for price-drops, but glove-drops seemed to be all the … uh … rage as the Flames and Blue Jackets tangled at Nationwide Arena.
Martin Pospisil, who shied away last season from scrapping because of his history of concussions, wound up in two tussles, his second and then third of his sophomore campaign.
Pospisil demanded a dance with Blue Jackets rearguard Jake Christiansen, who’d just levelled a toe-dragging Andrei Kuzmenko with a clean hit. His next dust-up was with Mathieu Olivier, a bonafide heavyweight who seemed to be begging for an invite after he hammered Joel Hanley into the boards from behind.
Ryan Lomberg later slugged it out with Olivier, ignoring a significant mismatch in size and needing a handful of stitches to close a cut above his left eye.
“Very proud of those guys,” Huska said. “That’s not an easy thing to do. That’s a hard part of the game. Now, that’s part of who they are, but there’s other hard parts of the game that you want to see us dig into a little bit more than what we did today.”
“There were some individual efforts that we’re proud of and guys that stepped up to the plate and took care of each other and teammates,” Coleman agreed. “We didn’t do enough, the rest of us, to make it matter. But it goes a long way in our room.”
It seemed like Blue Jackets netminder Elvis Merzlikins was also looking to join Friday’s Fight Club. He was ready to chuck blockers as MacKenzie Weegar fished for a rebound in a sensitive area, but the officials intervened.
‘YOU GO DOWN SWINGING’
Lomberg is absolutely adored by teammates, and his scrap with Olivier was just another reminder of why.
The Flames’ fourth-line sparkplug certainly took his licks. Giving up four inches and 40 pounds, that was predictable.
“He was explaining the hit a little bit, too. I know he’s not a dirty, malicious guy, so you give him the benefit of the doubt. But at the same time, for our team, that’s what the boys needed. They need somebody to address when stuff like that happens and if I’m the guy that has gotta do it and take a nice punch in the face or two, then so be it.”
It initially looked like Olivier might have been tossed for his hit on Hanley, but it was determined on review that he would only be assessed a minor for boarding.
“Had he not hit Nacho from behind, I probably wouldn’t have asked him to fight,” said Lomberg, who is listed at 5-foot-9 and 184 pounds, stats that haven’t stopped him from racking up 381 penalty minutes at the NHL level. “When they reversed it and gave him two, I knew what had to be done for my team and my teammates. That’s what we’re about here. Whether you win or lose, you go down swinging for one another, and that’s the type of teammate I am and I’m not going to stop doing it.”
TOUGH TRAVELS
The Flames hustled from Columbus to Pittsburgh, where they’ll conclude a four-game junket with Saturday’s showdown against the Penguins (5 p.m. MT, Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
They’re so far 0-2-1 on this trip. Their lone point came in an overtime loss in Detroit.
The Flames have had some trouble bringing points back home.
They’re now 3-5-4 in their whites this season. Across the NHL, only three teams — the Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks — have managed fewer than three victories in enemy territory.
“First period was awful, second period was awful … ” bristled Flames blue-liner Rasmus Andersson after this latest loss. “Just not good enough. It sucks. We have to be better on the road. We can’t just win home games. You have to win the road games, too, and we’re not doing that.”
Justin Kirkland’s availability for Saturday is unknown. The fourth-line forward played only 1:05 in Columbus before exiting with a lower-body injury.