They had zone time.
They had chances.
But in the end, the Flames were undone by a young goaltender and a veteran centre, falling 4-1 to the Nashville Predators Saturday at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Ryan O'Reilly scored a hat-trick, while Justus Annunen made 31 saves for the visitors.
Mikael Backlund provided the lone Calgary reply with a slapshot goal late in the second period.
The Flames were unlucky not to come out of the first period ahead at least a goal, because - to put it simply - they dominated the play.
Calgary outshot Nashville 11-4, outchanced the Predators 15-3, and held a 27-5 edge in shot attempts, but the locals could not solve Justus Annunen, including on a pair of odd-man rushes involving Nazem Kadri and linemates Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil. The first - about four minutes in - drew a deft deflection from d-man Roman Josi; the second drew a penalty after Pospisil was slashed on his way goalward.
The Flames enjoyed two first-period man advantages, and came close to breaking the deadlock with about five minutes left on the clock. First, Matt Coronato and Yegor Sharangovich found themselves in possession of the puck, behind the Nashville D, but Coronato's cross-crease pass evaded Sharangovich and skipped across to the half-wall.
On the ensuing rush, Andrei Kuzmenko ripped a puck off the post from the right circle, then jammed away at a loose biscuit with linemate Blake Coleman, but Annunen covered the bottom half of the net just long enough to force a stoppage in play.
At the other end, Wolf bided his time, coming through with a pair of stops off Jonathan Marchessault in quick succession late in the period.
