Calgary Flames Daily: Feeling the Effects Without Matthew Tkachuk

Happy Wednesday Calgary Flames fans! The Flames had an unfortunate loss last night to the Washington Capitals. Let’s check out some news surrounding this team.

It may be a beautiful day in Alberta today, but Calgary Flames fans aren’t the happiest. The Flames had quite the unfortunate loss last night to the Washington Capitals where they were completely outplayed. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Brian Elliott wasn’t on the verge of making franchise history.

He had recently tied Mike Vernon for a franchise record of 11 consecutive wins that Vernon had in 1989, the year the Flames won the Stanley cup. One more win for Elliott and he would have beaten that record.

But we all know how this story went.

Calgary Flames

Via Calgaryflames.com:

"“I think right from the get-go, they just came at us,” goaltender Brian Elliott said. “I think they had a lot of good chances. They carry the puck across the line and it seemed like we were getting stuff from the outside and not getting many opportunities – just shovels at the net and trying to create something in the o-zone. It’s disappointing to lose.“We’ll get over it and on to the next one.”"

For more post-game info, go here.

And rookie Matthew Tkachuk was also out of the lineup and will be for tomorrow night’s game, since he’s facing a two-game suspension for an elbow to the face of Drew Doughty. It definitely would have been nice to have Tkachuk in the lineup last night, since the Caps were much more aggressive than the Flames. With Tkachuk in the lineup, it could have given them that aggression they needed.

But now he’ll learn his lesson of being too aggressive.

Via Calgary Herald:

"“He’s just got to be careful.”“He’s got to be careful,” Gulutzan said. “There are different views on everything but he’s just going to realize that he plays hard and plays in the trenches.“He’s just got to be careful.”"

Some links around the internet surrounding the Flames

Capitals snap Brian Elliott’s win streak with victory over Flames (Sportsnet).

Calgary Flames call-up relishing latest recall in wake of Matthew Tkachuk suspension, Micheal Ferland illness (Calgary Herald).

Tkachuk’s ‘going to have to learn’ from suspension (Calgary Herald).

Eat Crow, Detractors: Dougie Hamilton has been elite this season (Matchsticks & Gasoline).

Some other links surrounding hockey and the NHL

‘Stupid’ NHL divisional playoff format drawing criticism (CBC Sports).

Going back to the Winter Olympics is inevitable for the league, NHLPA (ESPN).

5 reasons why the NHL’s Olympic spirit may live on, despite Bettman’s posturing (CBC Sports).

Mailbag: Sidney Crosby favorite to win scoring race (NHL.com).

Next: Battle of Alberta on the horizon in mid-April?

That’s all in this edition of Flames Daily! Thanks for reading.