Huska frustrated with Pospisil’s lack of discipline in Flames’ loss to Oilers

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Costly penalties played a huge part in the Calgary Flames falling to the Edmonton Oilers by a 4-2 final on Sunday night.

The second Battle of Alberta looked like it was going to be a rough one in the early going for the Flames, as they gave up a goal to Leon Draisaitl just 20 seconds in, before Jeff Skinner extended the lead to 2-0 a short time later.

That second goal against seemed to wake the Flames up as they began generating plenty of chances afterward. They were finally rewarded for their efforts late in the second period thanks to a power play goal on a deflection from Anthony Mantha.

“Obviously we needed one. Our power play needed one,” Mantha said afterward. “The end of the first kind of gave us a spark [with] the way we were playing. We played a good second and third.”

The strong play continued into the third, where Yegor Sharangovich knotted things up early with his first of the season.

Things went downhill soon after, however.

Near the midway point of the third period, Martin Pospisil got his stick up in the offensive zone on Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm. He was assessed a two-minute minor, and it proved costly, as Zach Hyman was able to score what ended up being the game winner on the man advantage.

Undisciplined play has been a repeating theme for Pospisil this season, something which is clearly drawing the ire of his head coach.

“We’ll do our best to coach that out of him, there’s different ways you can do that,” Ryan Huska said. “A lot of that is on the player. That’s twice now. It’s not OK.”

Earlier this season, Pospisil found himself stapled to the bench for a large portion of a game versus the Pittsburgh Penguins after taking two separate minors. He was quick to admit after this one that he needs to ensure it doesn’t happen again going forward.

“It feels pretty bad, especially when I tried to be careful,” Pospisil said. “I tried to lift [his] stick, and it was a high stick, ya. It feels bad, it can’t happen, especially in a tight game. I have to learn from it.”

That wasn’t the only undisciplined penalty for the Flames in the third period, either. Trailing by one with just over two minutes remaining, they were called for a blatant too many men infraction. It was an inexcusable mistake at the worst possible time.

“Somebody jumped when his player was still on the ice,” Huska explained. “Bad idea.”

With the loss, the Flames fall to 6-5-1 on the season. They’ll look to improve upon that record on their upcoming three-game road trip, which will begin on Tuesday at the Bell Centre versus the struggling Montreal Canadiens.

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