Things haven’t been all that bad for the Calgary Flames this year, though one of their star players thinks they’ve been leaving too much on the ice.
The team entered last night’s contest with the Montreal Canadiens fresh off of a 4-1 win in against the New York Rangers, but it was their goaltender David Rittich who stole them the win after he made 44 saves on 45 shots. Calgary only managed to put up 26 of their own and their battle at the Bell Centre told a similar story, as they fired just 23 shots on Habs tendy Carey Price in a 3-2 loss. 2016 first round pick Matthew Tkachuk sounded off after the game, calling his team’s effort “embarrassing” and insisting he and his teammates have been leaving their goaltenders hung out to dry after the Flames gave up 40 shots on net.
He later continued with:
The following is an excerpt from the Calgary Sun.
“It was a bad effort after we got away with one in New York because of our goalie. So maybe tonight, we could return him the favour and play well — and hope he plays well, but if not, we bail him out. But the opposite again. If we expect to play like that, we’ll be probably blown out of the building by these teams that are coming in,” Tkachuk said. “So we have to sharpen it up.”
Think the guy was frustrated after the win errrrr……
When you add everything up, the Flames have remarkably been outshot 85-46 in their past two games. 85-46!!!! AND they managed to come away with a victory in one of those. The team still ranks fifth in the NHL in goals for with 32, so some adjustments on defence could propel the them into a contender. For their goalies’ sakes, hopefully Tkachuk’s message was received loud and clear.
(H/T Wes Gilbertson)
