"I thought it was a slow start for us," said Head Coach Ryan Huska. "The first 15 minutes or so, they were the better team - which is a little bit to be expected when we're in a back-to-back. Then, I thought we steadily got better as the night went along. At the end of the day, the lack ofa little execution on the offensive side of it with our puck-handling around the net probably cost us the game tonight.
"I think it's having a little more confidence in your ability to make plays when they're there and bearing down. To me, that's pretty much it. There are certain people that we need to execute on a nightly basis. Some of them, some of them aren't there yet."
The Flames were on their heels early as they had trouble navigating the neutral zone, feeding directly into the Jackets’ transition game and allowing some Grade-A opportunities off the rush. Fortunately, Markstrom came to play and bailed his team out, allowing them to find their legs and eventually turn the tide offensively.
The best chance of the period came off the stick of Dillon Dube, who turned on the afterburners and scampered around David Jiricek before making a late cut to the net. His goalmouth try was turned aside by Spencer Martin, who pinned his toe to the right post and sealed off the rebound as bodies converged on the blue paint.
Tempers flared nearly the 10-minute mark when Cole Sillinger gave Nazem Kadri a high shot that sent him crashing to the ice behind the play. Kadri, though, leapt his feet and immediately starting chucking – the feisty scrap seeing both sides land a few stiff blows, before spinning to the canvas.
More importantly, the edge – the emotion – that Kadri showed in that moment (and on his way to the bin as he shouted back at the bench) is a great sign for the Flames. This is a player that excels when he has a little bite to his game, and there was greater show of that than a spirited bout.
Sillinger picked up an interference penalty for his efforts and with 25 seconds left in that infraction, Sean Kuraly picked up another two for shooting the puck over the glass. However, the Flames were unable to create much on the ensuing 5-on-3 and the remaining time ticked off without incident.
Shots on goal favoured the Flames 14-11 after one.
"They came out and they pressured us hard," Backlund said. "They have a lot of fast forwards and we knew that going in, but I thought we were a little more sloppy than we have been in the past. But give them a lot of credit. They put a lot of pressure on us and were hard on us all night.
"We played a little better, had some looks on the PP. Then, it was a little back and forth in the second and we pushed a little but in the third. Still... So far, probably, our worst game of the trip. We know we have to play better and we have to find a way to turn this around for Sunday to make it a good trip."
