In a parity laded National Hockey League the line between success and well less than success is very very thin.
The Flames, on a tough road trip, faced such a line on Thursday night as they faced off with the barn storming Nashville Predators. Win and you have a huge trip, potentially season saving. Lose and you have a .500 junket, which is certainly acceptable, but yet a huge disappointment given; the 3-1 start to the trip, the fact that they don’t win at home, and the torrid pace of the Western Conference towards the playoffs.
Luckily they don’t have to contemplate all those negative thoughts, holding on to a 4-3 win in Music City to conclude the trip at 4-2-0.
Third Line Flying
The top two lines didn’t get a whole lot done in the first period, but the third line certainly showed up. It marks the third straight game that the Jankowski/Bennett/Hathaway line has been noticeable since getting outed by coach Glen Gulutzan for being invisible in Manhattan.
Lots of chances in the first period, and a huge go ahead goal in the third kept Sam Bennett’s three game point streak alive, Jankowski with goals in two of the last three.
In all fairness they did borrow a little from the 3M line as Bennett and Jankowski leased the services of Matthew Tkachuk to find the marker past Pekka Rinne.
Jason York
He’s growing on me.
Actually I think the team is growing on him too.
With Kelly Hrudey and Cassie Campbell busy this week the Flames have been using Jason York on their road trip telecasts starting with the game against the Islanders. It was clear he didn’t know the team all that well to start but has been gaining momentum since and seems to know his way around the Flames roster.
Decent hockey guy, seems to know what he’s talking about.
Monahan Double Minor
The game saver for me was the big four minute kill on Sean Monahan.
Sure the Predators scored soon after to take a 2-1 lead, but another special teams setback at that point could have put the team on their heels with a recovery somewhat doubtful.
Instead they don’t give the Predators a lick of space, kill it easy and continue on their merry way.
Two Powerplay Goals!
You read that right, two of them!
Matthew Tkachuk gets a lucky bounce off of Sean Monahan’s hiney in the first period, so I doubt the masses will be rushing to social media to laud praise on Dave Cameron’s new man advantage look, but they were due a few bounces and found one early.
But they scored again in the second on a full two minute two man advantage, Dougie Hamilton with the honors on a snipe to give them their first two goal powerplay night in quite some time.
Good sign.
Matthew Tkachuk is a Ridiculous Player
Scored the first goal, set up the third goal on an amazing pass for two points, and created havoc in front of the net on the Hamilton powerplay goal.
The kid is the very fabric of the Calgary Flames these days.
The goal gives him 21 on the season, moving past the stalled Micheal Ferland, and a road trip with four goals in six games to pace the club.
Star is born.
Oiler Tank
Starting to get annoyed with the Oilers losing every game.
Talk of shutting down Sekera, shutting down Klefbom as the tank mode up in Edmonton is clearly on. They haven’t had a lot of bounces this season though, so perhaps their luck in the lottery is running out as well.
Fingers crossed.
Rittich the Goalie
David Rittich got it done.
He couldn’t be faulted for the game in Boston as he had zero support, and tonight he made the saves when he needed to, and then weathered the storm late when the Predators pressed for the tie.
On the trip he holds an identical 2-1-0 as starter Mike Smith, something that we haven’t seen from a backup goalie in Calgary since Roman Turek was demoted to a backup.
Has Calgary found their future number one goaltender?
Rittich the Defenseman
The need to weather the Predator storm was predicated on a less than stellar puck handling demonstration by Rittich with seven minutes to play, as he whiffed on the puck sending it into the deep slot for a fairly easy goal by Bonino Bonino Bonino.
From there he shut the door, but without that gaff the Flames probably cruise to a pretty easy 4-2 win.
Rittich is trying to channel his inner Mike Smith, something we’ve seen a bit on this road trip. He doesn’t want his defensemen to have to change their game when he’s in net. I get it and I like it, but maybe he should limit his skill development to handling the puck behind the net and not firing passes up the middle.
Lazar Game Winner
Two goals on the road trip for the plucky fourth liner that was goalless all season coming in.
He nets the game winner as it turned out (thanks to Rittich), but it was two aggressive defensive plays on the same shift that stood out to me.
Creating turnovers and being difficult to play against can be his foundation back to a NHL career if he continues down this path.
Standings Impact
The Kings lost to the Penguins, but the Sharks beat the Canucks and the Ducks came from behind to pile on more misery for the Blackhawks.
The result is the Flames stay in third spot, but move three points up on the Kings.
Additional good news was supplied by the Wild losing to the Caps getting the Flames back into a tie for a wild car spot as well.
Fancy Stats
A late surge by the Predators after the Rittich gaff erased a pretty sizeable shot share lead by the Flames (+9) with six minutes to go. The end result was a 43-40 final five on five for the Predators, good for 52% on the night. Scoring chances were in Calgary’s favour however at 7-5.
Individually it was another tough night for the 3M line as both Mikael Backlund and Micheal Frolik were in the 30s, joined by the fourth line. At the top of the pile was the third line with Brett Kulak leading the way at 65%, followed by Jankowski and Bennett both at 62%.
