LAS VEGAS — Sure, leaving Las Vegas with anything other than a hangover, ATM receipts and regret is a bonus.
But it isn’t the single point the Flames finally left T-Mobile Arena with that will resonate.
It’s the single shot they recorded in the third period of their latest choke job that is the story.
No one escapes Vegas with just one shot.
Darryl Sutter suggested the meltdown had something to do with fatigue, as his lads played less than 24 hours earlier in Arizona.
It says here it had plenty more to do with the psyche of this group – a veteran squad understandably battling confidence issues at a crucial junction of the season.
In a game in which the Flames pieced together what may have been their most dominant opening frame of the season, there they were, unable to hold on in the third on Thursday.
After building up a 3-1 lead courtesy of Jakob Pelletier, Jonathan Huberdeau and Mikael Backlund, the Flames played scared, they played defensively — and the evidence is certainly mounting to suggest they’re starting to play their way right out of this playoff race.
“It’s not good,” said Pelletier, whose second straight two-point night was overshadowed by a gutting, 4-3 overtime loss to the Golden Knights that drops the Flames three points back of Minnesota for the final wildcard spot.
“I mean, if you want to win here, you have to play for 60. Tonight we played for 40, I think.
“I think we just kind of sat back.”
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This team is supposed to be smarter than that, better than that.
The forte of Sutter teams has long been the ability to shut the opposition down in the crunch.
Not this group.
The two-goal clawback by a Vegas team that leads the league with 10 third-period comeback wins, started with a softie early in the third on surprise starter Dan Vladar, who won a night earlier in Tempe, Ariz.
From there, you could see the tying goal coming, well ahead of William Carrier’s finish with seven minutes remaining.
“Second goal, our goalie would like to have that back, for sure,” said Sutter, who explained his rationale behind starting Vladar with, “win and you’re in.”
“If they don’t score the second goal I think we were still going to complete it.”
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A Rasmus Andersson point shot off the crossbar with four minutes left could have broken the deadlock, but there isn’t much puck luck for the Flames these days.
From there, it was inevitable who’d triumph in overtime, as the Flames dropped to a pathetic 5-12 after 60 minutes.
“We know OT hasn’t been our greatest strength this year, so we’ve got to find a way,” said Huberdeau, hinting at the defeatist attitude taking hold.
“We’re in the NHL. You’re supposed to be able to play back-to-back and not be tired.
“It’s part of it, but at this time of the year you’ve got to give it your all.
“In the third, we had one shot. That’s not our team. That means we stepped back and let these guys come at us and try to defend and hope we’ll end up with an empty net.
“We have to keep the pedal down.”
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Asked why they can’t, he shrugged.
“I mean, I wish I could tell you,” added Huberdeau, who took a nice feed from Pelletier to give the Flames a 2-0 lead one minute into the second.
“We’re supposed to be able to deal with that. We have a lot of veterans and leaders on this team. We have to be more offensive in the third, even when we have the lead.
“It’s tough, you sit back and let them come, and we know it’s a good team so there’s going to be a surge, and that’s what they did tonight.”
The Vegas curse continues, as the Flames are now 0-7-1 in Nevada, lifetime.
The previous games were almost all blowouts, yet this one probably stings the most, given how dominant the visitors were the first two periods.
“We talk about it all the time, we’ve got to check, not defend,” said Backlund, whose late, second-period redirection gave the Flames a 3-1 lead, giving him goals in four straight.
“That’s the biggest change that we’ve done from the first into the second, into the third.
“We start to defend more and more as the game went on, and that’s when they took advantage. It’s on us leaders in the group to stop that and get back to the checking part.”
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The dagger plunged into the hearts of Flames fans came after Backlund, one of the Flames’ most consistent and reliable players this season, made a bad line change in overtime.
It allowed the Knights to enter Calgary’s zone with numbers, leading to a shot off the crossbar by Jonathan Marchessault that was calmly knocked in by Alex Pietrangelo.
“I saw (Jack Eichel) pulling back,” explained Backlund.
“I knew he was going to try to get some speed and read the play. I just thought it was a chance… I skated up and down twice, felt a little tired and felt it was good to get a fresh body in.
“Obviously, not the best choice I made.”
A night full of regret.
How very Vegas.
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