Flames Miss a Chance; Sutter Burns

The top teams in the NHL are fine-tuning their games with an eye on the Stanley Cup playoffs, which begin later this month.

Everything is positive for them. Little things mean little because they can see the big picture.

Try as he might, Calgary Coach Brian Sutter can’t quite stay focused on the positive. Especially after his team squandered a chance to win Sunday evening in a 3-3 tie with the Mighty Ducks at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.

The Flames have a mathematical shot at making the playoffs. But anyone who plays the lottery has a chance to win millions.

Sutter knew Sunday that his team’s number did not come up.

“We did enough things that we deserved to win,” Sutter said. “There’s two [points in the standings] we had. We got one; we should have had two.”

Two points would have positioned the Flames six points behind his brother Darryl’s San Jose Sharks, who sit in the eighth spot in the Western Conference with 70 points.

The Flames seemed to have two points in their pocket when Andrew Cassels put the Flames ahead 3-1 late in the second period. After that, Sutter narrowed down the reasons for the tie to questionable calls and bad bounces.

“I don’t know how many penalties we killed in a row,” said Sutter, referring to interference calls against Tommy Abelin and Joel Bouchard in the third period. “I know we are a tough team but we aren’t that tough.”

But as quick as Sutter was to criticize and explain away blowing a two-goal lead in the third period, he tried to clean up a messy situation.

“We can’t cry over spilled milk, you guys,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do.”

But there is, Brian.

The Flames can help themselves in the next seven games, three of which are at home. Calgary has three games with the Sharks and one with Edmonton, which is tied with the Sharks in points but is in ninth place in the conference with one fewer victory than San Jose.

Calgary, 25-36-14, also has one game with the slumping Kings and two with woeful Vancouver.

Actually, woeful is what the Flames were expected to be, and for much of this season they did not disappoint.

When Pierre Page jumped--or was pushed--from this franchise to the Ducks, last summer, the Flames had an angry player (Theoren Fleury), numerous questions and a small-market reality that indicated tough times might stick around.

Page’s departure, prompted by his failure to get a contract extension, opened the door for Sutter. And things looked to be even tougher when Sutter said he would expect the same amount of work from his players as he provided for his employer during a 12-year NHL career in St. Louis.

There, he expected to make the playoffs and battled every night to make that happen. Now, his team is trying to make it in after missing last season under Page.

The Flames’ late-season rush might indicate that Sutter’s style is rubbing off on his players rather than rubbing them the wrong way.

“We played a hell of a hockey game, played a hell of a game and we deserved to win,” said Sutter, who might have seen a little of himself on the ice. “We just kept going after them and going after them.”