Flames showing improvement, but power-play a concern

Ryan Huska kept his answer short and to the point.

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Asked directly by Flames TV about what he was seeing from his team’s power-play, the Calgary Flames head coach had a two-word response.

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“Not much,” Huska said.

As we noted, it was to the point. But what else was there for Huska to say, really.

There were a lot of positives in the Flames’ 3-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday night. In general, there was a lot to like about the four-game road swing they just completed.

But the Flames’ play when they have the man-advantage simply wasn’t up to par.

The Flames have gone 1-for-29 in their last 10 games, dating back to their Nov. 7 game against the Nashville Predators. That’s a 3.5% conversion rate.

Over that stretch, only the Washington Capitals have been worse in the NHL. They’ve gone 0-for-19 in seven games.

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There’s no way to sugar-coat that. The power-play is a concern, plain and simple.

That the Flames have managed to post a 5-3-2 record over that stretch is proof that there are a lot of other things that are clicking for the team and that’s important to acknowledge, because simply focusing on the negatives ignores that there’s been some good hockey from the Calgary crew over the past couple weeks.

But in a game like the one that Flames played on Saturday, when they were going up against a dangerous opponent and were on the second night of a back-to-back after a big 7-4 win over the Dallas Stars on Friday, they needed to take advantage on one of their four power-play opportunities.

Instead, they were blanked.

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And to really hammer home the point, the Flames only managed one single, solitary shot during their five-on-four opportunities.

At even-strength, they were arguably better than the Avalanche. They outshot them 29-17 in five-on-five play, at least.

But on the power-play, the Flames just couldn’t seem to make anything happen. That’s been true more often than anybody would like over the past couple weeks, and probably for the season as a whole, as well.

The Flames have scored only eight times in 68 power-play opportunities through the first 21 games of their season, which is good for only the 27th-best conversion rate in the NHL.

They’ve tried different players in different roles, but nothing seems to have quite clicked. It’s hard to know exactly what the solution might be. If the Flames knew, they’d surely have fixed it by now.

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Inevitably, the power-play will be a topic of conversation in the coming days as the Flames return to Calgary for an extended homestand during which they’ll play host to some of the NHL’s top teams.

Their next three opponents are the Vegas Golden Knights, the Stars and the Vancouver Canucks. All three are in the league’s top 10 in scoring this season, with the Canucks sitting right at the top.

The Flames are likely going to need a little firepower if they’re going to take points from those games.

And a few power-play goals would surely go a long way.

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Wes Gilbertson and Danny Austin have been covering the Flames for years and know what makes the team tick. Have questions? They have the answers – or the contacts to track them down. Send your questions to [email protected]

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