Flames extinguished by the Hurricanes.

The beginning and end of periods in the NHL are crucial moments in hockey games.

The Calgary Flames did not get that memo as they seemed unprepared to face the Carolina Hurricanes last night, allowing Carolina to score at the begging and the end of the first period and another early second period goal.

Bob Hartley would agree that his team wasn't ready to play and that the Flames' power-play needs to start to produce:

"We were not ready. Plain and simple. We had a few days over here (in Raleigh), and we talked about it yesterday. We talked about it this morning. But we were just not there."

"Right from the first bit, we generated one shot on our first two power plays. It starts with our execution, it starts with everything. When mentally you're not ready to play, whatever you do on the ice, it just doesn't work."

Goaltender Karri Ramo allowed 3 goals on 19 shots and was replaced by Jonas Hiller who allowed 2 markers on 17 shots.

The Flames played better in the second half of the game and managed two goals, despite Carolina's G Eddie Lack's strong play. Named the third star of the game, Lack made 33 saves on 35 shots.

Captain Mark Giordano acknowledged that it was a difficult loss for the team:

"It's a bad loss for us. We started coming about the midway part of the third, but when you get behind 3-0, it's tough. We weren't skating and generating like we usually do."

The good news is that the Flames can forget about this game and focus on the Dallas Stars who don't resemble a bit the team they were before Christmas. It would be a big confident booster if Calgary could get at least a point in Dallas in a back-to back situation against one of the top team in the NHL.

[pub]