High Danger Scoring Chance.
New lingo from the National Hockey League used to describe those saves that leave a goalie high and dry and abandoned, but also create chances for masked men to steal away scoring chances and give their teams big wins.
To this point in the season, Brian Elliott could largely be defended since the opener in Edmonton for making all of the easy and average saves, but struggling to come up with that show stopper to turn a game on it’s ear and give his new teammates a much needed lift.
Tonight, in a 3-2 shoot out win in Chicago, he laid that rut to rest, turning in a half dozen 10 bell saves over the final 15 minutes of action giving the Flames a crucial win to start this two game road trip.
The Flames upgraded their goaltending this summer, we saw it in the play of Chad Johnson early this season. Tonight we saw it in the new number one man, Brian Elliott
The Flow
One of the best periods of an otherwise forgettable start to the season actually, as the Flames looked confident, composed and essentially dictated the play against the high pedigree Hawks. The Flames generated most of the chances five on five, but leaned on their putrid powerplay to open the scoring when Dougie Hamilton put a shot on net with both Micheal Ferland and Sam Bennett swiping the rolling puck behind Crawford. The goal was given to Sam Bennett, still not sure that’s going to stick. The Flames had a few more scoring chances late but the score remains 1-0 Calgary, solid period.
The second didn’t start quite as well as a Derryk Engelland turnover resulted in a one timer from Patrick Kane upstairs on a diving Brian Elliott, the goaltender had no chance. My assumption was trouble at this point, thinking the Flames would be rattled, go off the still attempting to be learrned game plan and go back to the fire drill we’ve seen for the past two weeks. But no, they compose themselves gain, keep their feet moving and generate another four powerplays in the period. The first of the four resulted in a 2/2 night with the man advantage when Gaudreau made a sick pass across the slot to Giordano who wired it, the rebound bouncing to Monahan who slid it into the cage, 2-1 Flames. Some chances for both teams as the period wound down, but the score stays 2-1 Calgary after two periods, setting up a crucial third period in this young season.
The third was pretty much like the second. the Hawks tie things up when Brian Campbell fired a puck of TJ Brodie’s skate but once again they didn’t fold, turning up the heat and coming after the Blackhawks again. Brian Elliott had to be strong as the Hawks pushed the play sensing a home ice win, including a last second heart stopper on Richard Panik to preserve the point and get the game to overtime.
The overtime period was pretty much all Chicago do in part to the penalty taken by Michael Frolik, grabbing Panarin by the sleeve after the turning the puck over at the Hawk’s blueline. On the ensuing powerplay Brian Elliott was stellar turning aside two to three quality chances off of Patrick Kane alone in getting the game to a shoot out.
The shoot out was a painful thing to watch. In the Calgary cage you have a man looking for his first win in Calgary colours and perfect in the shoot out in seven attempts, but the Flame’s shooters coming up empty time and time again putting more pressure on their goaltender. In the end former Hawk Kris Versteeg finally steered one past Crawford giving the Flames a much needed victory.
1. Brian Elliott:The Flames were up 29-22 in shots and tied 2-2 with about six minutes to play in the third period. Elliott had been solid to that point, but the team itself was leading the way playing a textbook road game. When overtime ended the shots were 34-31 Chicago and the first star was a given.
2. Kris Versteeg: Truthfully besides a first period partial break the guy wasn’t that noticeable but he gets a game star for finishing that painful shoot out and giving star #1 the victory.
3. Patrick Kane: Scored the Hawk’s first goal and was a weapon in overtime forcing Elliott to be the show.
Big Save
This looked like Cory Crawford’s category to win for much of the night, but boy did Brian Elliott take over in the final 15 or so minutes of action. His toe save on Richard Panik could be a season changer as it took the Flames from a painful loss with two seconds left in the third period to a chance to fight again; a chance they converted to a shoot out win.
The Goat
It looked like it was the Hawk’s penalty kill early as they 43% effective group gave up two goals on the Flame’s first two chances, but they straightened it out the rest of the way, going an impressive 60%!
Mr. Clutch
Micheal Ferland. The guy was almost in his Vancouver playoff series zone, hitting everything that moved and driving to the net with every opportunity. Hit the crossbar in the third period and narrowly missed the game winner. Such a force when this version of the player comes to work.
Odds and Ends
Other than rotating the starting goaltender, the Flames stuck with their lineup from the St. Louis game including the healthy scratch of rookie Matthew Tkachuk once again. Apparently Tkachuk and Gultuzan spent some time chatting at center ice this morning in the pregame skate, so hopefully this is a teaching and watch from above plan, and not a slippery slope back to the Ontario Hockey League. I’d honestly like to see the youngster playing with the Flames core playing like the Flames core, and not the chaos he skated with in the first 5 games of the season. … Speaking of Flame’s core, member Dougie Hamilton was a different player tonight, using his ample frame to really lay the hits on the Hawks through out the game, including a back to back play where he knocked Schmaltz and Hossa to the ice behind the Flames cage. Hope it’s a sign of things to come as it adds a key dimension to the big defender. … With the Flames having an actual fourth line this season they really have the makings of a solid five on five club once the core forwards get off the snide. Tonight, for the first time since Vancouver we saw some cohesion up front with all the lines generating a chance or two. Troy Brouwer felt getting on the road against some tough teams might be the tonic to turn things around, and they did just that tonight with a huge two points. Maybe a point in St. Louis will turn this mini trip into a season changer and the club can climb back to .500 before the calendar turns to November.
Next Up
The Flames are right back at it tomorrow night as they travel further into the US to play the St. Louis Blues. Game time 6.30pm on Sportsnet.
Lines:
Gaudreau – Monahan – Frolik
Versteeg – Bennett – Brouwer
Bouma – Backlund – Chiasson
Ferland – Stajan – Hamilton
Giordano – Brodie
Jokkipakka – Hamilton
Engelland – Wideman
Elliott
