On Tuesday night the Calgary Flames suffered another tough loss while the Edmonton Oilers had to watch their first overall draft pick, Connor McDavid, skate off the ice after a horrible collision. Both are major topics of conversation in Alberta Wednesday.
READ MORE: Connor McDavid gets injured, Twitter goes crazy
The Calgary Flames have only three wins after 13 games and have given up an astounding 56 goals this season, by far the most in the NHL.
It’s a shocking start to the season for a Flames team that made the second round of the NHL playoffs just six months ago. Flames captain Mark Giordano wants the entire team to pay more attention to defensive detail and show more emotion.
“A little bit of anger is sometimes a good thing in getting mad at the situation we’re in,” he said. “For sure we have to dig ourselves out of this.”
The Edmonton Oilers haven’t even made the playoffs since 2006 and announced Wednesday 18-year-old sensation McDavid will be out months with a fracture to his clavicle. Even though the Oilers ended up beating the Flyers on Tuesday, new Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli wasn’t in a winning mood.
“Today feels like a loss,” said Chiarelli. “We won last night, but it feels like a loss. But we’ll get by it.”
Nineteen-year-old Flames forward Sam Bennett had one of the best games of his young career Tuesday night, but it was overshadowed by the Flames loss and the injury to his childhood friend.
“I can say I know exactly what he’s going through right now,” said Bennett, who missed most of last season after shoulder surgery. “It’s not fun, so I definitely feel for him.”
READ MORE: Connor McDavid suffers ‘long-term’ injury in game against Flyers
Calgary transit workers held a recreational hockey game at Max Bell Arena on Wednesday, with both Flames and Oilers fans involved in the skate. Afterwards they talked about the worry each fan base has for their team right now.
Flames fan Mike Hillis said the players need to show more heart.
“It’s the players, it’s not Bob Hartley at all, and they have a good general manager,” said Hillis. “It’s the players—they have no heart, you can watch it when they play. They have no heart.”
Oilers fan Reginald Carty has equal worry for his team going forward this season without McDavid.
“I think the Oilers, losing that guy, he’s a good kid in his first year, right? You might not see his full potential until he’s back in the lineup, so I think they have a lot to worry about.”
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