Darryl Sutter’s mood during his postgame press conference could only be described as disgruntled following the Calgary Flames loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
The result was clearly disappointing for a team sputtering as of late that, despite multiple leads, failed to slam the door and cement the win.
In the head coach's words, however, perhaps there was something a little bit more sinister at play given the bright lights of Hockey Night in Canada.
“When you’re in Chicago all those years, when you play and come into Toronto, you know what goes on,” Sutter said with a sly grin. “I won’t say nothin’ more."
“Did you think they were all penalties tonight? I don’t.”
Other Flames players, including Jonathan Huberdeau, who picked up a high sticking penalty in overtime to put the Flames down for the sixth and final time, shared a similar sentiment, as the club fell to 13-11-4.
“I think we’ve just got to be a little bit smarter with our sticks,” the Flames winger told reporters in the dressing room postgame. “I think they (the refs) missed a lot of calls on us, but that’s the game.”
"We didn't play bad 5-on-5,” he added. “But when you give a team like that a lot of powerplays, they're going to capitalize on them."
Dating back to 2016-17, the Maple Leafs rank 28th in power play opportunities per game with 2.80/gp. Calgary, on the other hand, ranks fifth during that same timespan, with 3.11/gp.
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