Rudderless Flames continue slide with confidence at record lows

John Tavares scored the game-winner in the third period as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Calgary Flames 4-2.

CALGARY – Minutes after hitting the type of milestone too far-fetched for Mark Giordano to have ever dreamed about while playing in Russia 13 years earlier, the Calgary Flames captain took to the airwaves to dedicate the moment.

After joining a short list of just four other undrafted defencemen to hit the 500-point mark, Giordano told Sportsnet host Ryan Leslie his first-period assist fulfilled a promise to his biggest fan.

“I’ve got my little guy, Jack, at home and it’s his birthday today and I told him I’d get it for him,” said Giordano during the intermission interview, looking into the camera as if talking to the proud eight-year-old.

“That’s for you, buddy.”

Commemorative puck firmly in his possession at night’s end courtesy of noted puck collector Rasmus Andersson, Giordano explained that as he walked out the door to drive to the rink his son asked for something special.

“It’s special because it will give Jack something to remember for sure, on his birthday,” said Giordano, who joins Borje Salming, Steve Duchesne, Dan Boyle and Brian Rafalski in the undrafted 500 Club with a point blast deflected in by Joakim Nordstrom.

“We’ll look back in the future at that one, (but) it doesn’t feel good after a loss and the spot we’re in, that’s for sure.”

It is there where the feel-good stories in Calgary ended Sunday.

Someone forgot to tell the Flames you’re supposed to search for eggs on Easter Sunday, not lay them.

That’s what the Flames did in the third period of a game they led the Toronto Maple Leafs midway through before allowing three straight goals in a 4-2 loss – their seventh in the last eight games.

They pulled the same stunt two nights earlier in Edmonton where they also turned a 2-2 tie into a third-period loss.

Rinse and repeat for a rudderless Flames club that sits closer to last place in the division (five points ahead of Ottawa) than it does to fourth place Montreal, which has a six-point cushion with five games in hand.

“You’ve got to be able to make plays when games are close in the third period,” said Giordano, whose club paid for two defensive breakdowns 2:21 apart midway through the third. “You can tell they were coming out with the mentality to win the game in the third. We’ve got to have that same mentality when games are tied or whatever. We’ve got to have that same confidence.”

Confidence is clearly at record lows in Calgary as this team has found consistent ways to lose games the last few weeks despite playing what they considered to be solid hockey.

Firing 34 shots at Leafs third-stringer Michael Hutchinson, some figured the Flames were the better team Sunday night, which says all you need to know about how far away the Flames are from being competitive this season.

Asked if this team, as constructed, simply isn’t good enough to win with, Darryl Sutter was frank.

“You’ve got to play at a pace in order to keep up, and you have to be able to execute at that pace and check at that pace, and for some of our players that’s difficult,” said Sutter, whose club is now 5-8 under his guidance and bracing for an inevitable sell-off of spare parts before next Monday’s trade deadline.

Asked if he allowed himself to think about the possibility that he may have just played his last game as a Flame, pending unrestricted free agent David Rittich wasn’t pleased.

“Don’t try to make a story here,” said the backup netminder, whose record is now 4-7-1 on the season. “This is my team and I want to stay with this team as long as I can. I’m not even looking at the trade deadline.”

You can bet Sam Bennett is, as the restricted free agent who played his 400th game Sunday likely tops the Flames' short list of enticing playoff adds available.

The Flames host Toronto again Monday before what will likely be a long week off thanks to scheduled games against Covid-ravaged Vancouver Thursday and Saturday that are sure to be postponed. That week off might have contained a glimmer of hope had the Flames been able to sweep this two-game set.

Alas, all hope for a playoff spot is now gone, and the players know it better than anyone else.

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