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 The Calgary Flames are all but mathematically eliminated from the
playoffs and dealt away a couple of pending unrestricted free agents
for draft picks just before the trade deadline in the next step of
their rebuild.
The Flames promptly handed the Senators a huge blow to their playoff
hopes with a 4-1 victory over them Wednesday night at the Scotiabank
Saddledome with their kiddie corps playing a huge part.
"The way the younger guys played is amazing," said Calgary
goaltender Joni Ortio, who stopped 30 shots to record his first NHL
win in just his second big-league start. "It's a joy to watch them
do as well as they did. They've been working hard and they've been
playing really well down there — I know Paulie's (Paul Byron) been
up for quite a bit — I'm glad to see (players) get rewarded for
that."
Center Markus Granlund, a first-year pro, netted his first NHL goal
to open the scoring just over two minutes into the affair before the
announced sellout crowd of 19,289.
"It's nice. It felt good. Really good," said Granlund.
Byron, a forward who started the season in the minors, and forward
Joe Colborne, who is still officially a rookie and eligible for the
Calder Trophy, added second-period goals.
Left winger Michael Cammalleri, a pending unrestricted free agent
who was expected to be traded before the deadline but was not,
rounded out the scoring for a Flames team that had seven NHL
freshemen in their lineup, including left winger Corban Knight, who
played his first NHL game.
"The one thing we think we've engrained is we're going to work our
butts off no matter what," Cammalleri said. "Tonight was a really
good commitment that way. A lot of our young guys, their efforts
kinda got the ball rolling."
Senators C Kyle Turris spoiled Ortio's shutout bid with less than 10
minutes remaining, which gives him 20 goals this season, but it was
nowhere near enough for a team which was defeated by the Edmonton
Oilers the night before.
"It's no disrespect for them, but it's two teams we feel we should
try to get points off of, and both teams outplayed us," Ottawa
captain Jason Spezza said.
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Goalie Craig Anderson made 24 saves for the Senators and was the
lone player to not feel the wrath of coach Paul MacLean.
"It's flat out not good enough in this league," MacLean seethed. "We
didn't play hard enough last night. We didn't play hard enough
tonight to get anything out of the game. We can't expect our
goaltender to save us with the way that we've played.
"Three of the last four games coming out of the Olympic break we've
been terrible from start to finish."
NOTES: Calgary lost two more players to injury during the game. LW
Jiri Hudler and D Dennis Widemen both left due to upper-body
injuries. ... Flames RW David Jones suffered a shoulder injury in
Monday's game against the Minnesota Wild and is expected to miss
three or four weeks. Calgary LW TJ Galiardi suffered an upper-body
injury while working out Tuesday. Galiardi missed time earlier in
the season with a back issue. ... The Senators lost LW Cory Conacher
to the Buffalo Sabres via waivers. Conacher, who was acquired last
season from the Tampa Bay Lightning for G Ben Bishop, had four goals
and 20 points in 60 games with the Senators. ... The Flames won for
the first time in nine tries while wearing their third jerseys. ...
Calgary made two moves at the deadline, sending G Reto Berrra to the
Colorado Avalanche for a second-round choice in this year's draft
and RW Lee Stempniak to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a third-round
pick. ... Ottawa re-signed D Chris Phillips to a two-year, $5
million contract. ... Flames C Matt Stajan missed a second
consecutive game due to personal reasons. It is unknown when he will
return.
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