Flames Fall in Ottawa

Dustin Wolf did everything that was asked of him.

He gave his team a lift.

And more importantly… a chance.

On a night when the offence didn’t come easy, the star-studded up-and-comer – making only his second career start after being recalled on Thursday – made 34 saves and kept the game within reach.

But it wasn’t enough, as the Flames dropped a 4-1 decision to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Blake Coleman scored Calgary’s lone marker, as a three-game point streak (2-0-1) came to an end.

“I really thought the first two periods we played pretty well, honestly," Coleman said. "It was a pretty back-and-forth game and our line - I felt like - we could have had two or three in the first period. I had some missed opportunities I wish I could have back. But with that said, it was 2-1 going into the third and everybody still felt really good about our game. Just some lapses that really hurt us there and unfortunately, we weren't able to claw back into this one. Obviously, you don't want to be chasing games all the time, but up until that point, we still felt pretty good about our game."

For Wolf, he arrived exactly as advertised. Calm. Composed. And after a 5-1-0 start with the Calgary Wranglers, ready for the opportunity in front of him.

His list of personal accolades runs long. As the heir to Carter Hart with the Everett Silvertips, Wolf was named the 2020 CHL Goaltender of the year, the WHL’s top ‘tender the following season, winner of a 2021 World Junior gold medal, and was named the AHL’s Most Outstanding Goalie in his rookie campaign.

This past year, he backstopped the Wranglers to their first-ever Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the league’s top club – doing so, while earning every possible honour for regular-season performance, including the prestigious Les Cunningham Award as the American League’s MVP.

While the 22-year-old made his NHL debut late last year, there was nothing on the line for the Flames that day.

On Saturday?

It was, as Mikael Backlund described earlier that morning, the “real thing.”

And that’s what Wolf has been training for this whole time.

“As the game went on, I continued to feel more and more comfortable out there," Wolf said. "Obviously, they threw a lot of rubber, so I was able to get myself in the game pretty quickly. They're a good team over there and they made some outstanding plays that ended up being goals and we (have to) learn from it.

"I think the American League is pretty different than the NHL. Those are some big men out there and it's a lot tougher for myself to fight through screens, which I thought I did pretty good job of tonight. But at the end of the day, I felt really good.

"The result didn't come but something certainly to build off of."

The Flames – who roared back from multi-goal deficits to secure points in each of the last three games – showed signs of a rally late in the second period when Coleman’s tally cut a two-goal deficit to one.

However, the Sens nabbed two in quick succession early in the third to not only restore their comfy cushion, but open up a 4-1 lead they would not relinquish.

First, it was Rourke Chartier who was the beneficiary of a Flames turnover, whistling home a Dominik Kubalik feed after Drake Batherson stripped the puck behind the net at 3:50. Then, only 1:22 later, former Flame Travis Hamonic powdered a shot through a screen, beating a blind Wolf over the blocker to put the homeside firmly in command.

Mathieu Joseph and Batherson scored the others for the Sens, while Joonas Korpisalo stopped 24 of 25 in the Ottawa cage.

"Two good periods," said Head Coach Ryan Huska. "We had a big kill at the end of the second period and ... we were able to score a nice goal. We went into the third period on a powerplay and didn't get much done, which I think gave them a little bit of momentum. Then, we made a little mistake in our own zone and things kind of snowballed from there.”

The loss drops Calgary's record to 4-8-2 on the year.

The Flames got the first good chance of the night, courtesy of their fourth line, as part of a five-shot blitz in the opening three minutes of the contest. Adam Ruzicka chased down a loose puck along the far wall, before sending backhand pass into the slot, where A.J. Greer fired from point-blank range but was turned aside by Korpisalo.

The early pressure paid off, though, in the form of a powerplay when Josh Norris was whistled for tripping shortly thereafter.

However, it was the Sens who got the best look on the ensuing advantage, with Joseph speeding off down the far wing and testing Wolf with a shot ease.

If that was the appetizer, what Wolf had in store next was most definitely the main course. In what turned into a 3-on-2 off the rush, Joseph found Claude Giroux at the doorstep, but his in-tight redirect was emphatically stopped as Wolf stuck out the left pad to cut off the angle.

It was an absolute clinic in how to move laterally.

Unfortunately for Wolf, that line would get their revenge a few minutes later, as Joseph tipped home a Jake Sanderson shot to give the Sens a 1-0 lead on their eighth shot at 11:21.

Shots were even at 12 apiece after a thrilling opening 20.

The Sens opened up a two-goal lead with a powerplay goal, 3:07 into the second. Jakob Chychrun unloaded from up top, smacking teammate Brady Tkachuk in the back-left shoulder as he provided the screen in front. The puck then launched off Tkachuk and way up into the air, where Drake Batherson tracked it, before swatting it out of mid-air and into the yawning cage.

Jonathan Huberdeau had a chance to trim the deficit a few minutes later when he was sent in alone, but his forehand five-hole try was coolly turned aside by Korpisalo. 

But the Flames kept pressing. 

After surrendering seven of the first eight shots of the period, the visitors went on a 6-1 run before Adam Ruzicka smacked one clean off the bar and drawing a flood of ‘ooohs’ from the revved up, Saturday night crowd in the nation’s capital. 

Finally, the dam broke at 15:52 when Coleman scored his fourth of the season and second in the past three games. Hamonic coughed up at the blueline at sent the red-hot Martin Pospisil back the other way, leading a 2-on-1. Pospisil delivered a lovely saucer pass over a diving Erik Brannstrom, giving Coleman an easy tap-in to halve the deficit. 

Pospisil, meanwhile, continues to show his unheralded offensive ability, recording his first NHL assist with the dish.

Things nearly went awry when Coleman (interference) and Elias Lindholm (tripping) took penalties that gave the Senators a 1:11-long 5-on-3, but Wolf and the penalty-killers came up large to keep the game in a 2-1 count after 40 minutes.

This time, though, there would be no comeback. The Flames were out-shot 12-2 in the third as Ottawa scored the only two goals to ice it.

The Lineup:

Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau - Elias Lindholm - Andrew Mangiapane
Connor Zary - Nazem Kadri - Yegor Sharangovich
Martin Pospisil - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman
A.J. Greer - Adam Ruzicka - Dillon Dube

Defence

MacKenzie Weegar - Rasmus Andersson
Noah Hanifin - Chris Tanev
Nikita Zadorov - Nick DeSimone

Goaltenders

Dustin Wolf - Starter
Dan Vladar

Scratches: Jacob Markstrom (day-to-day), Walker Duehr, Dennis Gilbert

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 25, OTT 38

Powerplay: CGY 0-for-3, OTT 1-for-5

FO%: CGY 42.4% OTT 57.6%

Blocked Shots: CGY 11, OTT 19

Hits: CGY 23, OTT 21

5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 20, OTT 18

5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 9, OTT 4

Up Next:

The Flames conclude this three-game road on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens, before returning home for a pair, beginning on Thursday against the Pacific rival Vancouver Canucks (click here for tickets).