Three takeaways as Flames fall flat against Avalanche

There were just over seven minutes remaining in the second period when the Calgary Flames finally managed to get their fourth shot on goal.

If there’s one stat that tells the story of Friday night’s 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, it’s probably that one.

Yes, the Flames (30-24-11) eventually found their footing and made a late push to make things interesting.

But the first 33 minutes of the game against the Avs (40-24-3), they were completely flat.

Frustratingly flat.

“I didn’t like our first two periods,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska said afterwards. “I thought we had too many guys that weren’t fully into the game tonight – maybe three quarters, to start with. Halfway through the game, I thought we started to get more engaged.”

There’s no real shame in losing to the Avalanche, even at this time of the year and when you’re in the middle of a playoff race. They’re a good team who beat most opponents.

But what was legitimately frustrating to the Flames was their lack of engagement early on. This was a game they should have been up for. There aren’t that many left – 17, to be specific – in the regular season and they are deadlocked with the Vancouver Canucks in the race for the second wild card spot.

How can three-quarters of the players on the team not be fully engaged for more than 30 minutes?

In the third period, the Flames got goals from Blake Coleman and Jonathan Huberdeau and were pushing for an equalizer when Valeri Nichushkin scored an empty-netter to seal the deal for the Avs.

But the Flames had shown that when they played their game, they could compete. So why didn’t they play that way in the first two periods?

“We’ve got to figure out how to play 60 minutes and it starts with us in the leadership group, we’ve got to do a better job,” said Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson. “You’ve got to look yourself in the mirror because you look somewhere else, so we’ve got to start getting better and lead by example.”

There were good things on Friday night. Without Mikael Backlund, their captain and shutdown centre, they managed to keep both Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar off the scoresheet.

Unfortunately, the Avs’ supporting cast picked up the slack, with Parker Kelly scoring twice and Ryan Lindgren adding one, too.

“When you shut those guys down and still lose, it stings a little bit extra,” Andersson said.

So now, the Flames head out on a four-game road-trip that kicks off against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday. There are some tough games in there, and they’ll need to do a lot more than they did early against the Avs if they’re going to return home still in the playoff race.

Here’s three takeaways from Friday’s game:

Backlund is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury, and the reality is that the Flames don’t have a like-for-like player who can step in and do his job.

Most nights, that job involves going up against an opponent’s top centre, and that happened to be MacKinnon on Friday night and he just might be the best player in the world right now.

The Flames started things off by having Nazem Kadri matched against MacKinnon and he deserves credit for the job he did. The problem is that Kadri and Huberdeau are the only players on the roster who have been producing consistent offence recently, and pitting him against elite centres means he can’t be freed-up to go create offensively.

Another candidate emerged during Friday’s game, maybe surprisingly.

Morgan Frost played substantial minutes against MacKinnon alongside Coleman, and the results were encouraging.

It’s not a role Frost has played often, but he’s open to it.

“That hasn’t always been my game but it’s probably the thing I want to work on the most, to be able to be trusted in those situations and not having to be hidden,” Frost said. “It’s something I’m working on. I’ve never really been a defensive guy but I want to be a 200-foot player.”

Coleman had gone 14 games without scoring when he cleaned up a rebound off a nice shot from Matt Coronato and put the puck in the back of the net early in the third period.

It was a long time coming. Too long, probably, but it was no surprise seeing him step up in a big moment.

This is a veteran who has won two Stanley Cups who was seen at Winsport putting in extra duty around the net and then doing puck clean-up duty after an optional practice this week.

He’s putting in the work and is hoping for a lot more between now and the end of the season.

“Sometimes, that’s all it takes. You see one go in the net and your mindset changes a little bit,” Coleman said. “It definitely feels good. I’ve been trying to put in some work to generate some more and obviously I’m pretty comfortable with Matty there and kind of knew what he was going to do there.

“I’ve kind of been streaky my whole career and hopefully I can go on a run to help this team win games.”

It’s not going to get the slightest bit easier for the Flames over the next week.

They kick off their four-game road-trip out east against the Leafs on Monday and then face the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils.

All of those teams are either in playoff positions or just barely on the outside-looking-in.

Backlund probably won’t be back for any of it, while Connor Zary will miss the matchup with the Leafs as he serves the second of a two-game suspension.

And for a Flames team that’s coming off a three-game homestand where they didn’t manage to put together a full 60 minutes once, they’re going to need to lock-in fast.

“We’re going on a long and tough road-trip here, we’ve just got to bear down and find some consistency over 60 minutes,” Andersson said.

The Seattle Kraken did the Flames a favour by beating the Utah Hockey Club on Friday night, and Utah remains two points behind them – and the Canucks.

But it’s as tight as it gets in the playoff race, and the margin for error is getting smaller and smaller.