Flames must make Vladar their main man after Markstrom’s latest setback – Sportsnet.ca

Perhaps this is the moment – the chance for coach Darryl Sutter to realize what the rest of the Calgary Flames observers have known for months.

It’s time to go with Dan Vladar.

Just like earlier in the year, when he followed up on Jacob Markstrom’s announcement that he “fucked hockey” by spelling it out for a couple of weeks, it’s time for the coach to change his mindset.

Change its rotation.

Time for Markstrom to iron out his training issues while Vladar goes in to give the Flames the best chance of victory.

No, Markstrom wasn’t as bad as many fans would like us to believe, blaming him for every loss.

But the fact of the matter is that the veteran goalkeeper has at least one goal he’d like to have back on almost every setback.

When you lead the league by one goal in 32 games, that questionable goal can often be a killer.

That was certainly the case on Monday in Ottawa, when Markstom let himself be penetrated by a Tim Stutzle shot in overtime, devastatingly interrupting a five-game road trip as the Flames fell 4-3.

With three minutes to go the score was 3-1 in a game the Flames appeared to be in complete control of. Markstrom and the Flames conceded two goals while Senators rookie goaltender Mads Sogaard scored a draw.

One was a conceded rebound, the other just as impossible as the overtime goal Johnny Gaudreau scored to eliminate Dallas last year.

Perhaps unfair to blame Markstrom.

But it was an overtime shot from Stutzle that will be the biggest talking point of a trip that ended in a 2-1-2 record for the Flames.

The 25th shot he faced all night squeezed through a hole under Markstrom’s blocker and ruined an otherwise positive evening.

“I thought we played a hell of a game — we ran out of gas a bit,” Sutter said.

“I thought we totally dominated the game.”

There wasn’t much more to say as the Flames overtook the Sens 37-25 and controlled the game in terms of possession, checking the hosts ahead in such a way that they forced the hosts to flip the puck 17 times ( compared to three flames cough UPS).

And yet there they were, once again driving across the ice with their heads down.

For the record, that’s seven losses in eleven games that lasted more than 60 minutes.

The difference is once again the goalkeeping game.

This time, Markstrom, the youngest Vezina Trophy runner-up, was outplayed by a youngster making his third NHL start and first in 10 months.

Sure, that can happen.

But it happened to the Flames way too much and cost them way too many points in a playoff race where every point counts.

Meanwhile, the man who’s been relegated to the bench far too many times has helped the team earn points in 13 of their last 14 starts.

Enough is enough.

Sutter’s penchant for riding his starter through thick and thin has certainly served him well over the years.

Last year, the success of his approach was disputed when Markstom’s brilliant regular season collapsed at the end.

Since then he has not been the same goalkeeper.

No one is suggesting that he won’t find his match at some point.

But time is running out to let him play through this most frustrating chord of his career.

The script must be changed immediately, or this team will continue to fight and tread water in a treacherous playoff race.

Fans are losing faith, especially since there’s a simple fix: Vladar.

No, his goals against average and save percentage aren’t miles ahead of Markstrom’s 2.93 and .891.

However, at 11-5-4, he has simply given the Flames a better chance of winning this year than the 33-year-old, who is 14-13-7, while struggling mentally and physically.

It’s time to give Markstrom another chance to reset while giving the team a better bet on the net.

Monday’s late collapse overshadowed another brilliant evening from Tyler Toffoli (one goal) and Dillon Dube (two goals), who combined for 11 points in their last two games.

It sent her home on the team’s charter for a four and a half hour flight that would have landed her in Calgary in the early hours and set her up for a damn day off.

“It’s tough,” said Mikael Backlund after the defeat. “We played a really good game for about 56, 57 minutes.

“And then we let it out of our hands. It’s really hard and frustrating.”

Markstrom’s struggles mirror those of a team yet to win more than three games in a row this season.

His last consecutive wins came just before Christmas.

This Flames group has a low margin of error, as shown by the fact that they have lost 20 of the 32 games decided by a goal.

There is a better approach – Vladar.

Surely this coach has finally seen enough to understand that it’s time to lean on him more.

Much more.