Well that was fun.
During the 2004 playoff drive the Flames were known for a lot of things. Effort. Tenacity. Goaltending. Teamwork. A really loud crowd. A green helmet. A crazy red afro. But also being very very poor losers, and I loved it. The Flames won 12 games in the first two rounds, but when they lost the other six they were miserable, un-accepting, and a walking billboard for what not to do in the world of sportsmanship.
Tonight the Flames got throttled in Detroit, there’s no doubt about it. However the melee and chaos in the third had very little to do with poor sportsmanship and every much to do with some pretty poor judgement from a few players involved.
The bottom line however is an 8-2 setback on game one of a road trip with Eddie Lack getting lit up and pulled, the Flames penalty kill getting walked yet again, and the team surrendering what was a three game win streak.
The Brawl
Might as well get to the heated topic from the game early.
Brett Kulak gets his gloves up on Booth, he didn’t beat Booth’s dog, though that would seem somewhat fair given Booth’s history of shooting bears from tree houses in wooded areas with bait in a barrel; yes that’s another story. The reaction to a harmless play is escalated by Luke Witkowski who grabs Kulak, they both drop the gloves and Witkowski hammers him with a left. So there you go, fight won and over. Yet Witkowski is feeling kind of puffy chested and doesn’t let it go, grabbing Kulak when he’s down and sort of shoves him into the ice twice getting a strong reaction from Travis Hamonic and many other Flames.
The refs take Witkowski to the box, then realize there isn’t much game left and return him to the Wing’s bench in order to get him to the room when all hell breaks out. Matthew Tkachuk taps him on the back of the skates as he’s leaving, Witkowski comes back on and everyone starts throwing. In it Hamonic and Mantha have a go with Hamonic falling on to the Wing’s bench with Mantha on top throwing. Anthanasiou grabs Hamonic during the fight, that’s a no no, Micheal Ferland tossed a few fists into Ericsson’s face from the bench, also a no no. Chaos.
I’m guessing all of Witkowski, Mantha, Anthanasiou, and Ferland get looked at.
Haven’t seen one of those in a while!
Keys to the Loss
The Flames had a rough night. Sure the Flames didn’t get a save from Eddie Lack, but then I have a tough time blaming that mess given the breakdowns and poor play in front of him.
If you want to hang the game on a single player or line or pairing it has to be the TJ Brodie / Travis Hamonic pairing as they had a miserable night. Brodie was -4, Hamonic -3, and both were complicit on several plays. The Wing’s first goal was put into the cage by Brodie, both guys got their sticks lifted on the Wing’s second goal, Hamonic didn’t have a stick checked on the fifth goal. Rough night. Give Hamonic some points for standing up for his teammates late, but on the ice; rough night.
Special teams. The Flames scored a powerplay goal, but they gave up four in a penalty filled night. The penalty kill simply has to get better or this team is going to have a tough time competing. It isn’t goaltending, it isn’t simply great powerplay, and it isn’t bounces. Too many holes in their set up, players behind coverage and point blank chances. Get to work boys!
The Crowd
They used to say you should always open a new building on year one of a rebuild, as the facility itself was good for solid attendance for three seasons.
When the Devils opened their new building a few years ago that was proven wrong as they played to many poorly attended games as early as year two.
Tonight the Wings were playing game six in their new home and the number of empty red seats was astounding. Early I was assuming some action on the concourse; the seats were sure to fill. But as the game rolled on it became obvious these phantom people were not going to make it. Not a good sign.
The Refs
The Flames didn’t lose on the backs of the officiating, they did that just fine on their own. But the handling of the last five minutes was a blatant example of officials losing control of a game.
I know the instigation penalty has gone the way of the DoDo, but to start a fight, win a fight and then WWE the fight with two more body plants, they stripes have to see that and react to it, and not let it fester for the opposing team.
Then with a guy coming back on to the ice, and another Wing punching a guy well down in his bench they call Matthew Tkachuk for a spear when he tapped the guy on the back of the ankles?
Then the team with a five minute penalty to kill off late gets a Mikael Backlund unsportsmanlike penalty? Just not sure why this is warranted in a logically called game.
The Go Forward
Call me old fashioned but I’d rather lose game one on a road trip 8-2 with a bench brawl then a 2-1 heart-breaker; they’re galvanizing. The National broadcast was talking about a team playing well having to lick their wounds and bounce back from what has to be a devastating loss, but I see it completely the other way; the flight to Philly will be filled with discussion and bitching and anger.
They’ll ready.
The Stats
The Flames had a 60% edge in five on five shot attempts which speaks to score effects to a large degree. I thought the Flames started very well but didn’t get rewarded, then got down but rebounded, and then hung in until it was 4-1. The Wings owned the first half of the second period but then sat on the lead when the game got to 5-1.
One thing that falls somewhat out of score effects is scoring chances and the Flames had 62% of the scoring chances on the night, including an 11-5 edge in the first period despite being down 4-1. This isn’t all on Lack however, as one thing a scoring chance doesn’t describe is the level of breakdown by the defending team, and in the Flame’s case many were rather blatant.
Individually the Brodie/Hamonic pairing came in at 20% suggesting the need to go back to the Stone/Brodie pairing for the game in Philly as that seemst to improve the fate of both players. Ironically the third pairing with more favourable matchups and zone face off splits were at 77%, to lead the Flames. The top pairing, plus the second and third lines all owned five on five play with 60%+ nights.
