CALGARY – Intentionally or not, the DJ controlling the warm-up playlist at Calgary’s Saddledome Wednesday pulled a subtle troll job on the Toronto Maple Leafs.
As the visitors loosely circled their zone — getting ready for Round 2 after last night’s hard-fought, grind-one-out victory over that other hopeful Alberta franchise — Drake’s smash 2015 dis record blared over the sagging barn’s speaker system.
“Back to back.”
The funeral march of these 2016-17 Maple Leafs, written by one who wears their city like a tattoo.
The Leafs have been nothing short of dreadful in the second half of consecutive games, a point the Flames jumped to kill quickly, like a Dougie Hamilton trade rumour, in their decisive 3-0 victory.
In this faceoff between two flawed, yet optimistic Canadian clubs — one the Flames had long circled on their calendar, said coach Glen Gulutzan — it was the shaky home team trumping the awful road team.
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The Flames improved to 4-7 in the Saddledome, and that’s still the worst mark in the Western Conference.
“They’ve got that great team speed. We’ve got to make sure we take it in the trenches,” Gulutzan proclaimed before puck drop. “We’re ready to establish ourselves here.”
The Leafs tumbled to 2-6-4 away from Air Canada Centre. Only the Islanders have a worse road record.
But back to the back-to-back.
Toronto is now 0-4-1 in the second half of back-to-backs, getting outscored 19-8 in the process.
“When you’re playing back-to-back, obviously you’re going to be tired but you gotta push through that,” said Leafs forward Auston Matthews, a minus-two on the night.
Backup goaltender Jhonas Enroth has borne the brunt of those beatdowns. Acting purely as a vehicle for anointed franchise goalie Frederik Andersen to catch his breath, all four of Enroth’s starts have come in the Game 2 of a back-to-back. The $750,00 goaltender — signed almost as an afterthought on Aug. 22 — has lost ’em all. His save percentage actually improved to .872.
“It’s tough when you don’t play too often, but that’s my job. I need to do a better job,” said Enroth, whose team has 13 more back-to-back games on the docket.
“That’s why I’m here pretty much. I’ve been used to starting the second nights on back-to-backs before. I need to battle through and get a win next time.”
Conversely, the Flames targeted Chad Johnson and secured their No. 2 goalie earlier (July 1) and are paying him more ($1.75 million).
“We talked to Johnson this summer as well,” revealed Babcock. “He’s a good guy. He’s calm, and he’s playing well.”
Pressed to crown a team MVP in this young season, Gulutzan named Johnson, who earned his third shutout in 16 days. Always the bridesmaid, the seven-year veteran’s .930 save percentage and 8-4-1 record have given the ballcap to the more established and expensive Brian Elliott.
“We all want to anoint people going in, but we felt we had two really good goalies. Look at his stats over the past 12 months—he’s been good,” says Treliving, who has known Johnson from their Phoenix days. “It’s funny. Some guys hit it at different times in their career. He brings a real calming presence.”
So you have Johnson flaring a pad to stuff a hacking Nikita Soshnikov on the doorstep and flicking a cool glove hand to stone Marner on a clear-cut breakaway in the third.
The game was over before the butter had time to sift through the popcorn.
“The big thing is start on time here,” a prescient Babcock said two hours before puck drop. “Each night the game’s a little bit different, so we just got to get out and start on time.”
Freddie Hamilton needed all of 19 seconds to score the game-winner off a Michael Ferland pass that Enroth admits he was too late to adjust to. Kris Versteeg slammed home a bang-bang rebound 30 seconds later, and the game was essentially a wrap after two shifts.
Ex-Leaf Matt Stajan piled on a third goal in the first period, Enroth settled, but it was too late.
It had been more than 29 years since the Flames scored twice in the opening minute of a game. Babcock blamed poor preparation.
“As a team, as a coaching staff, as a goaltender, we weren’t ready. Ended up giving up your full day of preparation in the first five minutes or whatever it is. There’s no excuse for that,” the coach said. “It also shows you that you’re not an upper-echelon team when you can’t do it night in, night out.
“You had all day to prepare, and we weren’t prepared. Not good enough.”
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Toronto finished with 39 shots. They could’ve had 78. Wouldn’t matter.
It was Night 2 of a doubleheader, Enroth got the call, and the Leafs were destined to play the role of Meek Mill.
