Calgary Flames Lose Top Goalie Ramo To Season Ending Knee Surgery
The goaltending situation for the Calgary Flames has gone from bad to worse and back again this season. At the start of the year, they struggled to find an effective goalie. Eventually, Karri Ramo emerged from the fray and played decent hockey for several months as the team started to gain a little traction. On Wednesday, it all fell apart again as the Flames announced that Ramo has a torn ACL and damaged meniscus. He’s scheduled for knee surgery and will miss the remainder of the season. The official timeline for recovery is 6 to 8 months which should have him back in action around training camp.
Ramo sustained the injury late in a game against the San Jose Sharks on February 11. Mark Giordano tripped Sharks’ forward Joonas Donskoi as he was driving to the net. Donskoi got a shot off which Ramo was able to save. In the process, Donskoi fell hard into Ramo’s knee which was trapped between him and the goal post. He left the game immediately, replaced by Jonas Hiller who will now get most of the work in net for the remainder of the season. After the game, Flames’ coach Bob Hartley gave a grim initial assessment saying simply “it doesn’t look very good.”
Ramo had a very strange year otherwise. He appeared to be the odd man out in a three man goaltending rotation with Hiller and youngster Joni Ortio early on and was placed on waivers in October. He scrapped his way back into the starting role thanks to hard work and some fortuitously timed (for him at least) injuries. Ramo finishes with a record of 17-18-1 in 37 games this season, with a .909 save percentage and a 2.63 goals-against average.
Calgary is 4-6-0 in their last 10 games and enters tonight’s home tilt with the Minnesota Wild having lost two straight. They are currently 3 points ahead of last place Edmonton in the Western Conference and are 9 points behind wild card teams Nashville and Colorado for the final playoff spots. Even with Ramo in the lineup, Calgary struggled on defense this year–they’re #26 in goals against per game and one of only five teams in the league allowing 3 or more goals per game.