Calgary Flames coach Glen Gulutzan did not mince words after his side’s lopsided loss in Montreal.
The Flames were the second-best team for much of the night as the Canadiens came away with a 5-1 victory to extend Calgary’s losing skid to four games. A frustrated Gulutzan did not hesitate to criticize his players after the game.
“We were pathetic,” he said.
“It was a pathetic display. No bite back, no kick back. Our top guys didn’t do anything. We needed someone to step up.”
“You just have to man up. We play well, one bad thing happens and we crumple. Our starts have been good, but one little shot goes in and we crumple. We have no resolve to stay with it.”
Montreal (29-13-7) took a lead late in the first period and never looked back. Alexander Radulov scored twice and Carey Price made 30 saves for his 22nd win of the season.
Sam Bennett scored Calgary’s lone goal with just one second remaining in the third period to deny Price’s shutout bid.
Down 3-0 in the second, the Flames (24-24-3) had a golden opportunity to get back into the game but made nothing of it.
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With Jeff Petry and Jacob De La Rose in the penalty box, Calgary was on a 5-on-3 power play for 47 seconds. To make matters trickier for Montreal, Tomas Plekanec was playing without his stick. But time ticked away without a single shot on Price.
“We had our windows to get back in,” said Gulutzan. “We got a 5-on-3, broken stick, we couldn’t even muster a shot,”
“What bugs me most is we play when it’s easy. If we have that mentality, we have to fight out of it.”
The Flames, who were coming off a 4-0 losing effort in Toronto on Monday, started out with good energy despite playing in the second game of a back-to-back. But for the ninth consecutive game, Calgary conceded a goal first.
The visitors fell behind at 19:18 of the first period when Andrew Shaw ripped one past Chad Johnson for his seventh of the season.
The home side doubled its lead with a short-handed goal at 4:53 of the second period. After Johnny Gaudreau bobbled the puck at Montreal’s blue line, Plekanec scooped it up and skated the length of the ice, beating Johnson five-hole for his first goal in six games.
“As a goalie, you’ve got to find ways to make saves on breakaways and 2-on-1s because that’s what we’re giving right now,” said Johnson, who made 15 saves on the night. “Yeah, we may be out-chancing teams, but do we generate breakaways and 2-on-1s? No, I don’t think we do that.”
With the short-handed goal, the 20th of his career, Plekanec tied Bob Gainey for second on Montreal’s all-time short-handed goals list.
The Canadiens made it 3-0 at 9:02 of the second period with Radulov scoring on the power play.
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Montreal finished 2 for 3 with the man advantage and is now 12 for its last 31 with the extra skater.
“We’re really focused on special teams right now,” said Shaw. “The power play really stepped up for us tonight.”
Montreal was without forward Alex Galchenyuk, who re-injured his right knee on Saturday. Michel Therrien shuffled his lines and Daniel Carr filled the remaining hole on the fourth line.
Carr thanked his head coach with his second goal of the season, scored at 8:02 of the third period.
Radulov made it 5-0 with a power-play marker with 3:53 remaining in the game.
“It feels good,” said Radulov of his first two-goal game with Montreal. “The goal is to win hockey games and our lines are producing. But Price deserved the shutout. It’s tough and we have to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Notes:
The Flames are now 3-4-3 this season in the second game of a back-to-back. … Gaudreau has not scored in 11 games – the longest drought of his career.
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