- The Flames were pretty much jobbed by the refs in the first period against Minnesota, but were the beneficiaries of 6 PP's of their own before the first intermission versus the Canucks two nights later. Spin world spin.
- Speaking of Saturday's game, Calgary played what was probably their best tilt of the season. Or at least it would have been had they not collapsed into complacency mid-way through the third. Speaking from a purely "entertainment" perspective, however, it made for an interesting finish.
- Matthew Lombardi was an absolute demon against the Canucks. Something has possessed Lombo this season and I hope it's never, ever excorsized.
- Coming on the heels of my own comments regarding Playfair's unfair criticism of the the Juice-Lombo-Kobasew unit, the Calgary Herald ran a story today celebrating the 2nd line's success. Of particular interest is this comment:
It's not one of those irresponsible tandems that's dangerous at both ends of the ice, either. Since their union a month ago, the line has been on the ice for just one opposition goal.
This speaks to the effort of the players as well as the success of the coaching staff. I don't have the shift-chart perusal will or abilities of Mudcrutch, but the above stat intimates that Playfair is getting the Juice troika out against relatively soft opposition - 3rd/4th lines, and 2nd/3rd pairing d-men. Keep it up Jim! - Huselius and co. have been so good recently they're starting to catch the attention of some of punditry's heavy hitters. Eric Duhatschek had a story today in the Globe and Mail talking about their contributions. In it, Hat recalls that Huselius was acquired by the Flames from the waiver-wire at about this time last year. Passed over by 29 other teams just 12 months ago, Juice is suddenly a solid and consistent offensive contributor on pace for a 30 goal/55 point season. Wicked.
- The Flames are currently 22nd in the league in terms of GF, with an average of 2.82 GPG. However, over the past 17 contests, Calgary has scored 51 goals - good for a 3.00 GPG figure. That despite the struggling PP (15.1%, 23rd). If only they could get their special teams (and by that, I mean special teams on the road) up to par!
- Dion Phaneuf has quietly crept into the top 5 in the +/- ranking (in terms of d-men) in the league with his +16 number. Granted, he doesn't yet take on the opposition's best players consistently like say, Pronger or Lidstrom...but he's on his way.
- Jarome Iginla has finally cracked the league's top 20 point-getters. However, what's more impressive is Iggy sits currently 2nd to only Vanek and St. Louis with 24 ES points.
And now some Schadenfreude:
- The Edmonton Oilers vaunted offense has thus far managed 2.76 GPG, good for 20th in the league. Course, they have some excuses (Hemsky, Smyth injuries). Nevertheless...HAHA!
- Looks like Andrew Raycroft and the Toronto Maple Leafs are as bad as I'd thought they'd be. After a decent start, Raycroft has fallen to 29th in terms of GAA (3.02) and 33rd in SV% (0.897). The team as a whole has lost 7 straight and is suddenly below the post-season cut-off in the East. And with apologies to the Toronto bloggers that I like, I fully expect them to stay there for the majority of the season.
- Thanks to the Blue Jackets recent 6-2 drubbing of the Senators, Vancouver is now the worst team in the league at scoring goals. Further, their $6 million goaltender is sporting some rather mediocre stats.
