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Slumping Flames desperate for difference-maker

WES GILBERTSON POSTMEDIA NEWS

RALEIGH, N.C. — Darryl Sutter essentially raised the question.

But he wasn’t about to answer it.

Summing up Saturday’s 3-2 setback in Carolina, the final stop on a marathon road trip, Sutter nailed not only the story of this latest loss but really the story of the season so far for his Calgary Flames.

“In games like that, when both teams are really battling to win a hockey game, I think you really need that difference-maker, the guy who is going to make the play to score a goal,” Sutter assessed.

Now a quarter of the way through the schedule, this much is oh-so clear — the 2022-23 Flames are still searching for an offensive hero. Or, preferably, a few of ’em.

Last season, it seemed they could always count on the same dudes in those crucial moments. Except two of those game-changers are now gone and another hasn’t been nearly as dangerous without his old linemates.

Who do they look to now? Who are the difference-makers? Or where are they?

“That’s a pretty general question. You’re going places that you shouldn’t go,” Sutter seethed after the Flames suffered a third straight loss, falling back to .500 at 9-9-3. “All you have to do is look — you had three 40-goal-scorers on your team last year. So, it’s quite a different operation.”

Elias Lindholm, the lone holdover from that high-scoring hat-trick, was skunked on this six-game getaway. He wasn’t alone.

Andrew Mangiapane, who registered the majority of his 35 goals last winter in his white road silks, netted none. Mikael Backlund, too, was blanked.

While Tyler Toffoli snapped out of his slump with a breakaway beauty against the Hurricanes, that was his only lamp-lighting on this extended Eastern trek. Prized off-season additions Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri also potted one apiece.

Adam Ruzicka, less than 24 hours after being called out by his boss for a drop-off in his performance, drained a rebound on the power play for the Flames’ other marker at PNC Arena in Carolina. The sophomore forward led the team with three tallies on these travels.

“We need our entire team. We need everybody going,” Toffoli said prior to a long — and presumably quiet — flight back to Calgary. “I think I’ve said it before ... We have seen glimpses of periods at a time where we’re very dominant. And then, for whatever reason, it’s almost the complete opposite for periods at a time. Definitely something that we need to figure out.”

A hero would help. Brett Pesce ultimately put the Hurricanes ahead with just over 11 minutes remaining Saturday, beating Dan Vladar — screened by two would-be shot-blockers — with a blocker-side strike on the man-advantage.

From that point on, desperate for a clutch cash-in, some sort of script-flipper, the Flames mustered only two shots on net, plus another that ricocheted off the iron.

During this three-game skid, which also included a loss by shootout in Pittsburgh and a loss by shutout in Washington, the Flames have scored a grand total of three goals.

Dating back to the start of November, they are averaging 2.57 snipes per night. Only a handful of teams are tickling less twine this month.

SPORTS

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2022-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

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