Leafs, Flames & Devils let crucial points slip away as they try to keep their playoff dreams alive.
Three teams ... three dreams.
Poof!
It's still too early to say for sure, but losses by the Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils could be the (choose your own cliché -- final nail in the coffin, straw that broke the camel's back, etc.) end of their collective dreams.
The Flames -- who sadly underachieved until they switched general managers, replacing the cranky Darryl Sutter with a more upbeat Jay Feaster -- entered Thursday night's match in Phoenix on an impressive 13-3-3 run that included a shootout win over the Stars in Dallas the night before. Things were going so well in Calgary, the locals were actually warming up to the likes of Olli Jokinen and Alex Tanguay, appreciating them for their efforts in the unlikely playoff run. For months, no one had even mentioned the fact that Jay Bouwmeester has never played an NHL playoff game.
But a 3-0 defeat to the Coyotes may have squashed the Cinderella season.
The Flames arrived in Phoenix at 3 a.m. for a game on back-to-back nights against a team that didn't play the night before. The deck seemed stacked against Calgary and, in the end, it really wasn't shocking the Flames were unable to win. Can't deny the effort, though.
Despite being out-shot 8-7 in the first period, the Flames kept the Coyotes off the score sheet. Phoenix scored early in each of the second and third periods and the Flames, though they pressed, were unable to dent the armour of Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov who recorded his sixth whitewash of the season.
What hurts most about the loss is the fact that Calgary has now played 70 games and the teams they are battling in the Western Conference have all played fewer. Anaheim, Dallas and Los Angeles have each played 67 games; Chicago Nashville and Minnesota have played 68 and Phoenix has played 69. Couple that with the fact the Flames have won eight games in the shootout and those games will be subtracted from their victory total in the event of a tie in the standings, and things suddenly look bleak.
The Flames gave their No. 1 goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff the night off with an eye towards Saturday night's home meeting with the Vancouver Canucks, but rookie Henrik Karlsson can hardly be blamed for the loss. Karlsson allowed just two goals (the third goal was an empty-netter) and it wasn't his fault his teammates couldn't score.
The Maple Leafs also ran into a brick wall Thursday night. One week after they edged the flu-ravaged Flyers in Philadelphia 3-2, the Leafs had the tables turned on them. The Leafs, like the Flames, battled hard, but fell just short. What makes the loss even tougher to swallow is the fact the Buffalo Sabres, one of the teams the Leafs are battling for eighth in the East, surprised Boston 4-3 in overtime.
The Devils were idle Thursday, probably still kicking themselves in the butt for dropping a 2-1 decision to the Ottawa Senators Tuesday. This was positively a game the upstart Devils had circled on their calendar as a certain win. Yes, teams actually do that.
The Devils, as my colleague John Shannon likes to point out, are the NHL's biggest story of the first and second halves of the season for distinctly different reasons. New Jersey signed unrestricted free agent Ilya Kovalchuk to the worst contract in league history in the summer and then sunk to the bottom of the standings for what looked like would be a long, long time.
When embattled GM Lou Lamoriello fired rookie head coach John MacLean and convinced retired Jacques Lemaire to return behind the bench, it was a measure of desperation. Now, with the Devils suddenly one of the best teams in the league, people are wondering why Lamoriello didn't make the switch earlier. The answer to that one is simple: Lamoriello was loyal to his longtime employee MacLean and for that he should not be faulted.
In any case, the loss to Ottawa may have burst the bubble on what could have been the most amazing comeback in NHL history.
The Flames, Maple Leafs and Devils all believe they can still make the playoffs and who knows, perhaps one, two or all three of them will. Until they are mathematically eliminated, they will all keep their fingers and toes crossed as they do whatever possible to make it in.
But it's funny how when you have a lousy start to the year, a remarkable comeback story can be instantly dashed by a single loss.
