It may not have been the most entertaining game last night, but damn was it ever a thorough and comprehensive victory (despite the fact that the first goal was scored half way through the third period). The Flames simply dominated the Avalanche most of the evening, despite the fact that Jarmoe made another appearance and Bertuzzi looked every bit like the floating non-entity that I expected when he was acquired.
The fact of the matter is, the Flames depth carried the mail against a fairly good team last night, which is perhaps the most heartening development in this early season. That is something that simply couldn't have happened last year (or the year before), given the black hole of inescapable suck that was the end of the roster.
Perhaps the most topical performance, given my post from yesterday on the subject, was the play of Dustin Boyd. By my eye, he was the Flames best forward in the first period. Keenan saw it too, and elevated the youngster up from the third unit to play with Iginla for most of the evening. Again, the results weren't there for the kid (ended the night 0-0-0 +1), but that's just straight luck. Dude created half a dozen quality scoring chances at least, including an open net that was tapped wide by Nyzerman on a short-handed 2-on-1. If Boyd keeps having nights in which he out-shoots the bad guys by 20 (!!), the points will come.
Other noteworthy performances from last night include: Moss (+15, assist on GWG), Giordano (+16...again) and Bourque (+8, two points). Notice that these guys were either not here last season, or were stuck with nominal playing time? Yeah...I can get behind this "depth" thing.
I can't decide if Im more impressed with the play of guys like Boyd and Bourque...or the fact the Keenan recognizes it too and is rewarding the players accordingly. Iron Mike started the night off with his security blanket Conroy centering Iginla. After the first, when it was clear that guys like Moss, Boyd and Glencross were "on", he demoted Conroy and reduced the ice-time of the under-performing "stars". Boyd ended up with 16:22 of ice, more than Cammalleri and Conroy, and just a hair below favorites like Langkow and Bertuzzi. Glencross was up around 15 minutes too, and even skated a few shifts with Jarome in the third.
Moss is still stuck at the 10:00 minute mark (Keenan hasn't taken a shine to him yet), but that won't last if he keeps playing like he did last night. A goal and +15 corsi in 9 minutes of ES ice is tough to ignore. I dont think Matt's favorite player will be scratched in favor of goons or pluggers this season.
Overall, mark me down as "pleased". I haven't had to talk about poor defensive play or goaltending in a couple of games and it's really starting to look like some of the support guys are going to handily out-perform their contracts this season. Good stuff.
