The Calgary Flames are playing too much catch-up.
The Flames were blanked in Tuesday’s opening frame in St. Louis, marking the 20th time in 43 games so far that they have failed to find the back of the net in the first period.
You’re not always going to cash an early goal, but there’s no team that has done less damage between the anthems and the initial intermission.
“We need to bring the energy and I think score first,” said feisty forward Martin Pospisil, setting up Thursday’s rematch with the Blues. “We don’t have, this season, good first periods. So next game is going to be important to dictate the tempo of the game.”
Tempo is a good start, for sure.
They need tallies, though.
The Flames have mustered only 27 first-period goals this season. The Washington Capitals already have twice that many, while only three other squads are south of 30.
Including Tuesday’s 2-1 loss in St. Louis, the Flames are 8-9-3 when they’re skunked through one. By contrast, they’re 10-6-4 when they score a single in the opening stanza and 3-0-0 when they bury multiple markers before there’s a break, as was the case in Monday’s blowout win in Chicago.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flames have played with a lead for a total of 643:05 so far, which is the fourth-lowest total in the league.
Despite being slow to crank their offensive engine, they’re currently sitting in the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
“People talk about a lack of scoring from our group,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters last week. “But I don’t look at it that way. I look at it more as a lack of first-period scoring. That’s the area where we’re lagging behind. The rest — second and third period — it’s right in the middle of the league, where it should be. So the question we’ve asked of our players is, ‘Why the first period?’ The chances are the same.
“We have to find a way to be a team that isn’t chasing games after the first period. We want to try to play with the lead a little bit more.”