I’ve said it before and I’ll likely say it again; sometimes win streaks start before their first win, and losing streaks start before their first loss.
Earlier this season the Habs came through Western Canada playing poorly but winning, and captain Max Paxiorety was quoted as saying they were sloppy and had lost their details. You knew a loss was coming.
The Flames on Friday night completed an eight game segment with a well deserved 2-1 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks, giving them a record of 5-3-0 over a course of games that had them outplaying their opponents in 7 of their last 8. Their most reason road trip ended 1-3-0 though they likely deserved a better fate (2-1-1).
Now on to Anaheim where they never win, but sort of need to win in order to take this two gamer to an actual streak and get their season back in order.
The Flow
The Flames came to play. They moved the puck well, and followed their “Hawk” game plan to a “T” by bottling up the Hawk’s skill players, taking away time and space. When the dust settled on the first period the score was tied at one on goals by Sean Monahan and Artem Anisimov but the Flames were in full control with a 13-7 shot advantage and good momentum.
The Hawks found their legs in the second period, were stronger defensively and seemed to finally find a way to bottle up the Flames and their cycle. Calgary pushed the play and Kari Ramo was solid in goal for the Flames when needed. The final tally of shots on goal had the Hawks edging by a 8-4 margin but scoring chances were at a minimum as the Flames kept the Hawks at bay and the scored tied at one.
The third period started with that feeling that the Hawks would find a way. The Flames were the better team through 40 but unable to get another past Scott Darling and Patrick Kane and his crew seemed to have found their legs in the middle frame. Instead it was the Flames that simply took the game away in terms of pressure, zone time and momentum. The Flames ran up a 14-4 shot edge in the final frame and were full marks for deserving a regulation win instead of a game heading to overtime.
A three point game against Chicago isn’t the end of the world on two fronts. One, a point against Chicago is always a great point sure, but also they’re a team that everyone sees in the playoffs and not a direct competitor for Calgary should they get their act together and move up the standings. Oh and who wouldn’t want to watch that? Calgary takes the face off, a win by Monahan and pretty much puts their skate on the throat of the Hawks for 1:38 of time and six shots on goal. First Monahan has back to back golden chances but is denied by Darling, then the second shift takes over and Johnny Gaudreau goes to work, ending it with a fake to go cross crease and a shift shortside on Darling. Flames win 2-1.
Three Stars
1.Johnny Gaudreau : Had a good game going without overtime, but rose to the top of the heap in the final frame by essentially taking the game over. Overtime winnner, and an assist on Monahan’s goal.
2.Scott Darling : Faced 37 Flames shots including 6 in overtime that featured three amazing saves to push the game further. Was the reason the game got to overtime in the first place.
3.Kari Ramo : Wasn’t as busy as his counterpart but solid in turning aside all but one of Chicago’s 19 shots.
Big Save
Tonight this one is easy. Darling made a lot of game changing saves, but you have to lean to the circus save Ramo made in the first period on Kruger of the Hawks. Down and out doing his best Trevor Kidd impression he curls around his catcher and swats the puck away in a back hand motion to keep the puck from sailing into the Flame’s cage.
The Goat
I’m reaching a bit but going with Brent Seabrook. The Hawks top group was on for both Calgary goals (Seabrook and Panarin were both -2) but it was Seabrook that got his pocket picked clean by Gaudreau on the winning goal.
Mr. Clutch
I’ll admit I want the Dougie Hamilton deal to work out as well as anybody, so maybe I’m cherry picking a bit, but Hamilton posted his second straight solid top four game continuing his rise back to his expected game on the blueline. Almost 21 minutes tonight, a +2 and a noticeable force from the blueline in on the attack all night.
Odds and Ends
The Flames had a late and surprise scratch when Jiri Hudler was too ill to go, leaving Mason Raymond to go from scratchy for 5 games to the top line with Gaudreau and Monahan. He actually asserted himself well, helped them on the cycle and had a few chances of his own. … Kris Russell left the game at the end of the first period after a puck went off his hand. The fact that he didn’t return could suggest he will miss some time, altering the top four for the club just when Dougie Hamilton was getting comfortable with increased ice time. Oh what a season. … The Flames push their overtime record to 5-0 in 3 on 3 hockey making it the only pre season prediction that I and many others got right this year. A combination of defenseman that can lug the puck (Brodie was amazing on that first overtime shift in keeping control in three different occasions that looked like turnover as destiny), and Gaudreau up front doing his Patrick Kane impression make the Flames tough to handle. Have to think the Flames will employ Bennett more in this situation in the second half of the season as he is the closest facsimile to Gaudreau in controlling the play. … How long until opposing coaches mix things up against Hartley’s détente approach to overtime? By putting Monahan and two defenders on the ice against other teams that always start their best he essentially looks for the draw in 45 seconds followed by a Gaudreau game winner. Will other coaches do a similar thing against the Gaudreau line soon? …. If Russell is a no go it will be interesting to see what the Flames do with their defense core. Have to think it will look somewhat like last year’s final third with Giordano out with 4 guys getting leaned on hard, and the third pairing getting spot duty. I hope they call up a Kulak or a Wotherspoon and start spotting some youth on the blueline as they’ll need it should they start moving pieces like Russell and Wideman down the road. … Not sure if the Flames have the runway to save this season, but they do seem to have the best trio of lines that we’ve seen in these parts in a decade. The emergence of a Joe Colborne as a solid third line winger to mesh with Jones and Stajan have given the Flames three lines that are tough to contain. I didn’t think the Bennett/Frolik/Backlund line was all that dominant tonight, but in the last 8 games they’ve certainly had their moments offensively. Gives opposing coaches a little more to think about than Monahan and Gaudreau.
Next Up
A very odd lull in the Flames schedule that has them off until Tuesday when they travel to Anaheim to take on the Ducks in “that building”. The three gamer then goes to Phoenix before finishing in San Jose.
Lines:
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Mason Raymond
Sam Bennett – Mikael Backlund- Michael Frolik
Joe Colborne – Matt Stajan – David Jones
David Bollig – Josh Jooris – Micheal Ferland
Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie
Kris Russell – Dougie Hamilton
Derryk Engellend – Dennis Wideman
Kari Ramo
