Both the Utah Hockey Club and Calgary Flames are in desperate need of a victory to change their fortunes when they meet Wednesday in Salt Lake City.
While the Flames arrive amidst a three-game skid, Utah is winless in four games (0-3-1) and with one victory in seven outings (1-4-2). The recent slide is bad enough for Utah, but the most recent loss takes the disappointment to another level.
Utah surrendered a 4-1 lead in the final five minutes of regulation time en route to a shocking 5-4 overtime home loss to the San Jose Sharks — the first victory of the season for the league’s last-place team — on Monday.
There was no mincing words after the game.
“We stopped putting pressure. We let them play with the puck. We let them make plays. We stopped defending like we can do,” coach Andre Tourigny told the Salt Lake Tribune. “What happened there is unacceptable. It’s embarrassing.”
The season started swimmingly with a trio of victories for Utah in its first season after relocating from Arizona, but the club has been falling further and further off the rails.
In the last four games, Utah has been outscored 17-7, while failing to score a single power-play goal and surrendering at least one power-play goal in all four outings.
“We knew they were hungry for a win,” forward Matias Maccelli said. “I think we played all right, it was 4-1 going into the last four minutes. I don’t really know what to say, it’s just really frustrating.”
What remains to be seen is whether Utah, a franchise that has been a perennial bottom-feeder, will continue to flounder or be able to change tack.
“That’s not who we are and that’s not who we want to be,” Tourigny said. “You have that kind of a lead, that’s not the way we want to play. That’s not who we want to be.”
The Flames have not been who they want to be of late, either. A 5-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday to kick off a two-game road trip leaves them with three consecutive losses in regulation after kicking off the season with a 5-0-1 record — the best start for the team since relocating to Calgary for the 1980-81 campaign.
“It’s a long season and you’re going to have a lot of highs and a lot of lows, but I’m actually glad we’re getting this (slump) early in the year,” forward Blake Coleman said. “It’s one of those âsee what you’re made of’ points in the season and we’ll see what kind of guys we have in the room.”
The Flames went toe-to-toe with the high-flying Golden Knights in the first period, even though Vegas staked a 1-0 lead, but then the wheels fell off. Calgary was outshot 16-3 in the second period and 32-10 over the final two frames and surrendered a trio of goals in the final frame with far too little pushback.
“Our puck battles (were the issue),” coach Ryan Huska said. “They came out with the majority of the pucks and that was evident from, for sure the second, third period on. I just don’t think we’ve been as crisp with playing to our identity, and I think when guys aren’t having success, they try a little bit too much on their own, and I felt like that’s the way it kind of went.”
Wednesday’s clash will mark career game No. 1,000 for Flames captain Mikael Backlund, all with the club that drafted him in the first round in 2007.
