Colton Dach drove hard to the net with about 12 seconds left in the first period of Wednesday's Battle of Alberta and crashed into Devin Cooley, the hottest goaltender in the sport right now. Cooley's right leg buckled into the post, his left folded under him, and he went down backward into his own net. He never came back out, and Dustin Wolf started the second period. The officials got the call right and whistled Dach for goaltender interference. But that penalty cost Edmonton two minutes and cost Calgary the best player it had had in six weeks.
Dach took a reckless route to the blue paint and ran the goalie. Whether he meant to put Cooley in a heap doesn't change a thing. Dach said as much himself after the game: "That's part of my game, getting to front of the net." Fine. But then this is part of the job too: when your game ends a hot goalie's night, you've done damage regardless of what was in your heart. You don't get graded on intent when the other team's best player is being helped off the ice. A net drive gone this wrong needs a consequence, and the only one here was two minutes in the box.
Going into Wednesday, Cooley had won four straight games and was the NHL's reigning second star of the week, having stopped 66 of 68 shots across two starts. Over his previous four games he'd allowed six goals on 133 shots, a .955 save percentage. That's the goaltender Calgary lost. The 29-year-old had carried this team through the only stretch of the season worth watching, and he got carried off the ice for it.
RatingNobody in a Calgary sweater did a single thing about it. After their best goaltender of the year went down on a reckless crease crash, in a rivalry game against Edmonton, the strongest response the Flames could manage was Adam Klapka having words with Dach before a faceoff in the third period. By then the game was long gone. Edmonton won 4-0, Tristan Jarry made 24 saves, and Connor McDavid piled on, stretching his season-opening points and assists streaks to 13 games apiece and setting a record for the longest assist streak to start a season. Calgary spent the rest of the night watching all of it happen without making anyone uncomfortable for taking out their guy.
Argue the hit however you want. Dach took a bad angle and paid for it with two minutes. The Flames still don't get to hide behind the officials. They let a divisional opponent end their best player's night, then skated around for two periods like it was a scheduling inconvenience. Wolf said the right things. Backlund said the right things. Huska had no real update on the injury. Everyone in that room was supportive with their mouths. Not one of them made Dach think twice with anything else.
Dach is responsible for the recklessness. The Flames are responsible for shrugging it off. A team that watches its best player get hurt and does nothing has a bigger problem than one injured goaltender.
