The Calgary Flames’ home winning streak ended in controversial fashion.
The locals were left fuming after Thursday’s frustrating finish, an overtime goal by the St. Louis Blues that was allowed to stand after a lengthy review.
The Flames argued that Blues defenceman Colton Parayko wouldn’t have been able to poke that puck across the line if he hadn’t also been pushing Dan Vladar’s left pad into the net.
After five-plus minutes of hemming and hawing, the NHL’s Situation Room ruled that the decisive dent would count, with Parayko and the Blues celebrating a 4-3 overtime triumph. The fans booed as they headed for the exits after the league-initiated review didn’t go their way.
Robert Thomas capped a three-point night — one goal and a pair of helpers — by assisting on Parayko’s sudden-death strike, while Zack Bolduc and Pavel Buchnevich also tallied for the out-of-town guests.
Jakob Pelletier, Matt Coronato and MacKenzie Weegar did the lamp-lighting for the Flames, who were shooting for a seventh straight win at the Saddledome. Vladar was credited with 20 saves in the home crease.
Starting with that sour ending, here are three takeaways from Thursday’s contest …
Good call or garbage call?
Should it have counted?
That will be the debate around the Keurig machine at every office in Calgary on Friday morning.
For what it’s worth, this was the official explanation from the NHL: “Video review determined that no goaltender interference infractions occurred as St. Louis’ Colton Parayko made a play on a loose puck in the crease prior to his goal. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 69.7 which states, in part, that ‘in a rebound situation, or where a goalkeeper and attacking player(s) are simultaneously attempting to play a loose puck, whether inside or outside the crease, incidental contact will be permitted, and any goal that is scored as a result thereof will be allowed.’ ”
The Flames definitely disagreed, although nobody was willing to risk a fine by raising too much stink in their post-game media scrums.
“I don’t know what you guys thought about it, but I don’t think the puck goes in unless (Parayko) pushes the pad,” said Weegar, choosing his words carefully. “I thought it was pretty clear. That’s all I really have to say about that. We move on.”
Calgary’s steamed skipper was hoping for more of an explanation from the men in stripes.
“It’s frustrating, to be quite honest with you,” said Flames coach Ryan Huska. “If they’re gonna call it that way, it’s fine, but the referees can come over and explain it. They just skate themselves right off the ice. That’s the part that bothers me a little bit is the why. Why was it a good goal? The way I see it, Danny made a save and he probably would have kept it out if his pad wasn’t pushed in. But that’s the way it is.”
What about Vladar, who had moments earlier made a sprawling save on Thomas?
Did he feel that nudge from a crease-crashing Parayko as he tried to seal the post?
“I just felt I had to make one extra save than (Jordan) Binnington and I didn’t,” Vladar replied. “They got the win, but I thought that we deserved to win today. The guys played a really good game in front of me. We were playing good hockey, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
‘It’s not rocket science, killing penalties’
The Flames surrendered yet another power-play goal Thursday — a one-timer from Bolduc from the high slot.
They’ve now allowed two-dozen man-advantage markers this season, and that’s through only 27 games.
With a 71.1 per cent success rate, their shorthanded stats are among the worst in the league: They rank 30th.
“I really liked our game five-on-five and power-play,” Huska said after his squad out-shot the Blues by a 39-24 margin. “I didn’t like our penalty kill. That’s the frustrating thing for me — there were a lot of good things in tonight’s game. We played it hard. I thought we played it well. I thought, as the game went on, we started to take over. A lot of time was spent in the offensive zone in the third period.
“I don’t have a lot of complaints about those portions of our game, but we do most definitely need to get better on our penalty kill.”
During his days as an assistant coach, Huska was tasked with overseeing the PK units at the Saddledome.
As bench boss, he believes it’s not that difficult to identify the problem.
“Penalty kill is short a guy, so you have to out-work the power-play,” he reasoned. “If you’re willing to do that, you’re going to kill penalties off.
“It’s not rocket science, killing penalties. But our penalty kill does not match our five-on-five play and that to me is where the issue comes in.”
It wouldn’t be the cure-all, but it would help if the Flames could win a few more faceoffs. They’re losing 61.1 per cent of their draws in shorthanded scenarios.
Pelletier pots one
You could tell, based on the double-barrelled fist-pump and the scream that followed, that Pelletier had been waiting a while for this moment.
When the 23-year-old winger drained a rebound in Thursday’s opening period, it marked his first NHL goal since March. You probably remember — and he certainly won’t forget — that he’s passed through waivers since then.
It also marked his first big-league bury on Saddledome ice. That’s a long time coming for the Flames’ first-round pick in 2019.
Called up earlier this week after a productive fall with the AHL’s Wranglers, Pelletier is determined to prove he deserves a permanent job in ‘The Show’ and it will be tough to send him back to the minors if he can generate some offence despite logging fourth-line minutes. Just like Justin Kirkland was doing before he suffered a season-ending knee injury. Pelletier has been plugged in Kirkland’s old spot alongside Ryan Lomberg and Kevin Rooney for these past two games.
This should-be sparkplug started to rebuild his confidence with 19 points — including 16 assists — in 20 appearances with the Wranglers this fall. On his scoring sequence, he helped pressure the Blues into a neutral-zone turnover and eventually beelined to the edge of blue paint, where he managed to find a puck in Scott Perunovich’s skates and chop that rebound past Binnington.
“It felt good just to score a big goal,” Pelletier said afterward. “It was 2-0 so to kind of find a big goal again, it felt pretty good, to be honest.”