The Calgary Flames were flat-out bad in the opening 20 minutes against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. The remaining 40 minutes were good enough to give them a fighting chance, but they just couldn’t muster enough consistency or execution and they dropped a tight 4-3 decision to the Leafs, their second consecutive loss in regulation.
The rundown
There’s no dressing it up, folks: the Flames weren’t very good in the opening period. The Leafs scored early off the rush; Juuso Valimaki and Nikita Nesterov steered Justin Holl towards the side boards, but he flung the puck on net.