Another home game, another loss as 19,182 dejected souls march their way to their cars or public transport with another missed opportunity on Saddledome ice.
At least with an afternoon game they have the rest of their evening to bounce back.
The Flames, in losing an overtime game to the Bruins, have now won only 13 of 31 games on home ice this season. It’s amazing they are still even in the conversation for a playoff spot.
They may not be for long.
Klimchuk Debut
Morgan Klimchuk made his NHL debut joining Sean Monahah, Emile Poirier, Curtis Lazar and Hunter Shinkaruk as first round picks from the 2013 draft that have played for the Flames.
If you can’t have quality you may as well have quantity.
Klimchuk did just fine in just over seven minute of ice time, creating energy, and even having a memorable run in with giant Bruin Zdeno Chara.
Any addition to the fourth line that pushes it to a positive possession group deserves another look.
Sloppy Starts
Another less than stellar start for the Flames, as they spent most of the first five minutes in their own zone, save for a loud clang of the goal post by Matthew Tkachuk on the first shift.
Playing with fire gets on burnt, as the Flames did when Michael Frolik turned the puck over to the Bruins resulting in a Pastrnak goal to put Boston up 1-0.
They gave up the first goal in Jersey, New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Nashville and then home to the Panthers and again today.
Add that to their futility on home ice and you have a tough hill to climb.
Measuring Stick & The Deadline
The Bruins are certainly a great opportunity to measure the progress of your hockey club, especially when you get to see them twice in a relatively short period of time.
The result? They’re not the Boston Bruins.
And with that I hope they come to the realization that this isn’t the go all in team just yet. They have many young pieces. The two acquired pieces for futures are on contracts that will have them both a big part of the team in the next two plus seasons, so don’t push in on a pair of 8’s.
That’s not to say they should just give up the season. Get on a run and make the playoffs, but don’t sacrifice the depth of the organization for a rental in two weeks.
Puck Management & The Grey Zone
The biggest difference between the two teams in the two games over the past week is puck management.
The Bruins are deftly efficient at managing pucks, and avoiding turnovers, especially in the grey zone (3 feet outside the opposition blueline and three feet inside their own blueline). The Flames on the other hand consistently got the puck to within a whisker of getting out of their own zone only to whiff, or blindly put the puck into open ice and the hungry eyes of a Bruin skater.
Great teams manage the puck very well. The Flames haven’t been on this two game homestand.
They did however, do an excellent job in Nashville.
Bennett Beast Mode
Some recent production seems to have Sam Bennett back into beast mode and feeling it again. It’s amazing how much this young player feeds off of success, but then shuts down with a lack of scoresheet presence.
No points tonight, but he was robbed twice in overtime, and hit a cross bar in the third period to go along with a very physical presence and being strong on the puck all night. If he plays this game consistently he’ll break through. The question is how to keep him in this zone.
Rittich Bounce Back
Today’s game said a heck of a lot about the mental makeup of young David Rittich.
His NHL career has been somewhat of a Disney script with start after start going off without a hitch. He didn’t have a loss in his first nine starts, lost a game in Boston and bounced back with a great game in Nashville.
Saturday, however was his first stinker, so it was interesting to see his reaction in today’s afternoon game. Was the balloon popped? Or would he just shake it off as he appears to shake off all things and get back to his stone cold goaltending.
The answer was decidedly the latter as he stopped two of three breakaways over the 64 minutes and was solid in many other Bruin scoring chances.
He gave his team a chance to win.
Smith Doesn’t Look Close
It’s a good thing Mr. Rittich has his mojo back, because the clip they played today of Mike Smith stopping pucks didn’t look like footage of a goaltender about to return to the starting role.
The shots he faced wouldn’t even qualify as warm-up shots to boost a goaltender, as he didn’t move a muscle in his lower body and just caught and blockered pucks away.
Looks like 10 more days to me.
Standings Impact
Wins by the Kings and the Wild keep the Flames out of the playoff picture despite picking up a point this afternoon.
They’re now two points back of both teams with each club having a game in hand; the Flames have some work to do.
Fancy Stats
The game shook down about as close as a game could with the Bruins technically having the edge 53-52 but both teams rounding to 50%. Period splits finished at 33 / 45 / 68 from the Calgary perspective as they pushed to win the game in the second half of the contest.
Scoring chances five on five were 14-10 for the Bruins however, 18-14 in all situations as Rittich was sharp.
Individually the club’s best possession players did their think with all three 3M forwards and Mark Giordano posting numbers in the 60s. Other even or plus players included Klimchuk, Travis Hamonic, Matt Stajan and Curtis Lazar.
On the ugly side of things was Brett Kulak, Micheal Ferland, and Sean Monahan who all posted numbers under 40%.
