TORONTO — Oliver Kylington anticipated the question.
“I’m pissed off right now,” he said while standing at the lectern inside Scotiabank Arena when asked about his range of emotions during the third period of the Flames’ game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. “I think you guys can understand why.”
Kylington had scored the opening goal of the game five minutes into the third period, with a display of speed and skill that had a national audience talking about the guy they always knew the second-round pick could become. His skating, his transition game and offensive upside had never been the question, though. Most watchers knew he was capable of scoring goals like that. It was always about consistency and limiting mistakes in his own zone, especially the big one.
The separation speed here from Kylington going up the middle PLUS the hands in tight is … impressive to say the least. pic.twitter.com/hr7E3SC9ym
— Hailey Salvian (@hailey_salvian) November 13, 2021
Eight minutes after Kylington gave the Flames a lead Friday night, it was his failed clearing attempt that ultimately got the puck on William Nylander’s stick, deflected off Ondrej Kase and into the back of the net.
“I just try to stick with it and believe in myself and stay with the process. It’s just hard tonight after a game when a thing like that happens,” Kylington said. “I believe in myself and the plays I make. Tonight that bounce wasn’t with me.”
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Overall, Kylington had a good game. In fact, he had the best expected goal rate among Flames blueliners. He’s been consistently solid to start the season since landing in the top four with Chris Tanev and has been one of the best early stories to watch in Calgary. But that eight-minute snapshot in the third period was, in a vacuum, the Kylington experience: high risk, high reward.
Typically, with a player like that, you just hope he’s good enough to negate the risk.
Perhaps in previous years Kylington wasn’t — or at least not ready yet — but this year, he has been. And, frankly, the Flames need him to be. Without Mark Giordano, the left side of the blue line is thin, with Nikita Zadorov and Juuso Valimaki fighting for a third-pair role. With Kylington in the press box, the blue line looked like a work in progress. Since he won a spot in the top four, the D-corps has looked better than expected.
He made a mistake that led to a costly goal against. But that shouldn’t erase all the progress he’s made this season.
Here are five thoughts and observations from the Flames’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Leafs.
1. Dan Vladar, in his third start of the season, was excellent.
He made 35 saves on 37 shots against and was the reason the Flames stuck around in the game and won a point.
“Every time he’s played he’s been unreal and made key saves,” Kylington said. “I wanted him to get this win tonight because he deserved it.”
In several moments throughout the game, Vladar was the star for Calgary. He made five saves on the Leafs power play and had several stops on Nylander, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Leafs had just under three expected goals in all situations in regulation. They only scored one, because of Vladar.
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“I thought he was really solid,” Sutter said. “Obviously they’ve got some high-octane shooters. The goalie has to make some good saves, which he did.”
This is exactly what the Flames need in their No. 2, someone who can steal a game, or at the very least keep them in it when Jacob Markstrom needs a day off. Though it is a small sample, Vladar can only win the games he’s in. And through three games he’s won the Flames five of a possible six points.
After nearly six years in the minors, the 24-year-old has just looked calm, ready for this opportunity and like an NHL goalie.
2. After his turnover in the third period, Kylington skated over to Vladar to apologize for the mistake.
“I just told him he was having a heck of a game and I told him I was sorry,” Kylington said.
Vladar rejected the apology.
“I don’t expect him to apologize for anything. He was trying to make a play,” he said. “I could have apologized after the second goal from Matthews too. I was trying to make a save and I didn’t. That’s part of hockey and we are a family and a team. Today just wasn’t our day.”
3. Vladar and Kylington were the stars of a game that was otherwise uneventful for Calgary. There was a lot of defensive zone time and a lot of looks at Toronto’s skilled players, but not a ton from the Flames, except for the two young standouts.
It will be interesting to see what Kylington’s leash looks like from Sutter after this one and whether Vladar will get regular starts, though Sutter did say two games out of 14 is pretty standard for a backup. We’ll see.
4. After back-to-back regulation losses to San Jose and Montreal and Friday’s overtime loss in Toronto, the Flames are 7-3-4 on the season. They have only won one game in regulation in their last five. They’re now third in the Pacific Division behind Anaheim.
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The big question coming out of this stretch now is, which team represents the real Flames? Is it the structured group that was scoring three to four goals per night that went on a 10-game point streak? Or is it the group that has lost two of its last three games to opponents either in the bottom of the standings (Montreal) or depleted because of COVID-19?
It seems Sutter sees this group as somewhere in the middle.
“It’s tough to get points. We’re not at the top end of the spectrum here (talent-wise),” Sutter said. “You have to battle, claw, fight.
“We don’t have high-end scorers on our team. When we were scoring 3 1/2 to four goals a game for seven or eight games and you guys were like, ‘What’s going on? What’s going on?’ Well, in the last three games, we’ve played better than some of the other games earlier.”
5. Friday was the annual Hall of Fame Game in Toronto ahead of Monday’s official induction for the delayed Class of 2020.
Ken Holland, Marian Hossa, Jarome Iginla, Kevin Lowe, Kim St-Pierre and Doug Wilson were in attendance for a ceremonial puck drop. Nobody got a louder cheer than Iginla.
Jarome Iginla (and his fans) are here tonight for the Hall of Fame Game.
Puck drop between the pic.twitter.com/u5tFAgE8iD
— Hailey Salvian (@hailey_salvian) November 13, 2021
The former Flames captain is set for official enshrinement into the Hall on Monday. And I’ll have a story dropping that morning.
(Photo of Oliver Kylington and