Every game from here on in (until we clinch a play-off spot at least) is a "critical" one, so calling tonight's contest against the Colorado Avalanche a "must win" is kinda redundant.
But that's not gonna stop me: tonight's game against Colorado is a "must win".
The Flames can make a strong bid to capture the NW division and move ever closer to that 96 point/play-off clinching mark by beating the Avs tonight. Both teams currently occupy the top of NW with 88 points each.
The teams have basically split the season series so far, typically with the home club winning the game. The Flames improved their home record to 25-7-3 with the victory over LA on Wednesday, while the Av's carry a 18-17-2 away record into the 'Dome tonight. So far, so good.
A major factor in the contest tonight may be injuries. Colorado lacks two of it's top goal getters in Tanguay and Svatos (both lost for the rest of the season) as well as their (potential) #1 goalie in Theodore. Conversely, The Flames have recently lost Nilson, McCarty, Warrener and Lundmark to various ailments. None of them will be in the line-up this evening. Therefore whomsoever can get the more solid performance from their supplementary players will probably be the victor. Course, strong performances from superstars (hear that Iggy?) certainly won't hurt...
GO FLAMES GO!
Friday, March 31, 2006
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Gimme 4 More Like This 1...
As I watched Sean Avery mouth off to Jarome Iginla near the start of the contest last night, one thought ran through my mind:
"that's a stupid thing to do."
And it was. Avery was soon treated to a Jarome initiated pile-drive into the boards. Little did Avery know that many of his teammates would be tasting much of the same for the rest of the evening.
Yes, it was a fine return to form for the Flames. And despite missing 3 regulars (and losing one their hottest forwards to injury in the 2nd), Calgary was able to employ physical domination to pull out a much needed victory.
Characters like Iginla, Regehr and (especially) Phaneuf set the tone early and often with tenacity and big, booming bodychecks. The Dion, in particular, was a veritable juggernaut on the ice, knocking down everything in his path. He also managed to paste that loudmouth Avery with an open ice-check. Which was delightful sight to be hold (for Flames fans, and probably any other hockey fan).
In addition, Calgary also benefitted from a clutch performance from Jarome Iginla. While he didn't collect a lot of points, the single tally he did manage happened to be the game winning goal. Shorthanded no less. On a night when just about everyone who played on his left wing was useless in the offensive zone, Iginla managed to turn a lot of nothing into a little bit of something. Add in the bruising physical play and the goaltending of Kipper and you get a hard fought win.
And, oh yeah...Only 8 more points till play-offs!
Positives:
- Defensive zone play. Through smart play and intimidation, the Flames allowed only a handful of scoring chances against all night. Their PK was also perfect on the night.
- Jarome Iginla. Avery pisses him off right away resulting in a fired up Jarome. The Flames Organization should pay Avery to play on whatever team Calgary is playing against.
- Dion Phaneuf. Just when I think he's going to succumb to the NHL grind and start
looking like a rookie, he turns in a performance like this one. Bar none the most explosive hitter on the ice last night. Made 3 hilight reel bodychecks. Also assisted on the GWG.
- Jordan Leopold. Cool, calm and poised. Was the picture of a top 2 d-man last night.
- Jamie Lundmark. Only had 5 minutes of ice time in the game before a high-stick sent him to the dressing room. Still managed to increase his scoring streak with another goal, however. Hopefully he will be back in the line-up soon.
- Craig Mcdonald/Byron Ritchie. fast skating duo were tireless forecheckers and actually created a couple of good scoring chances.
- Shean Donovan. Looked faster than almost anyone on the ice when he got going. Nearly scored in the 3rd thanks to a great individual effort.
Negatives:
- Powerplay. Looked stagnant last night. Wasted all 5 opportunities.
- Offense. The 2-1 score was probably flattering to the Kings. Calgary had a number of chances to put the game out of reach but (naturally) couldn't bear down.
- Ference and Marchment. Make me nervous every time they're on the ice. Marchment is just too damn slow and Ference just isn't terribly bright.
- Kristian Huselius. Just plain bad. Couldn't make anything happen in the offensive zone. Made errant passes and shot pucks into shin-pads and did little else.
- Lombardi. Basically the Flame's #2 centerman. Needs to start having more of an impact overall.
Next up - the penultimate battle between the NW division leaders! Flames VS. Avs!
"that's a stupid thing to do."
And it was. Avery was soon treated to a Jarome initiated pile-drive into the boards. Little did Avery know that many of his teammates would be tasting much of the same for the rest of the evening.
Yes, it was a fine return to form for the Flames. And despite missing 3 regulars (and losing one their hottest forwards to injury in the 2nd), Calgary was able to employ physical domination to pull out a much needed victory.
Characters like Iginla, Regehr and (especially) Phaneuf set the tone early and often with tenacity and big, booming bodychecks. The Dion, in particular, was a veritable juggernaut on the ice, knocking down everything in his path. He also managed to paste that loudmouth Avery with an open ice-check. Which was delightful sight to be hold (for Flames fans, and probably any other hockey fan).
In addition, Calgary also benefitted from a clutch performance from Jarome Iginla. While he didn't collect a lot of points, the single tally he did manage happened to be the game winning goal. Shorthanded no less. On a night when just about everyone who played on his left wing was useless in the offensive zone, Iginla managed to turn a lot of nothing into a little bit of something. Add in the bruising physical play and the goaltending of Kipper and you get a hard fought win.
And, oh yeah...Only 8 more points till play-offs!
Positives:
- Defensive zone play. Through smart play and intimidation, the Flames allowed only a handful of scoring chances against all night. Their PK was also perfect on the night.
- Jarome Iginla. Avery pisses him off right away resulting in a fired up Jarome. The Flames Organization should pay Avery to play on whatever team Calgary is playing against.
- Dion Phaneuf. Just when I think he's going to succumb to the NHL grind and start
looking like a rookie, he turns in a performance like this one. Bar none the most explosive hitter on the ice last night. Made 3 hilight reel bodychecks. Also assisted on the GWG.
- Jordan Leopold. Cool, calm and poised. Was the picture of a top 2 d-man last night.
- Jamie Lundmark. Only had 5 minutes of ice time in the game before a high-stick sent him to the dressing room. Still managed to increase his scoring streak with another goal, however. Hopefully he will be back in the line-up soon.
- Craig Mcdonald/Byron Ritchie. fast skating duo were tireless forecheckers and actually created a couple of good scoring chances.
- Shean Donovan. Looked faster than almost anyone on the ice when he got going. Nearly scored in the 3rd thanks to a great individual effort.
Negatives:
- Powerplay. Looked stagnant last night. Wasted all 5 opportunities.
- Offense. The 2-1 score was probably flattering to the Kings. Calgary had a number of chances to put the game out of reach but (naturally) couldn't bear down.
- Ference and Marchment. Make me nervous every time they're on the ice. Marchment is just too damn slow and Ference just isn't terribly bright.
- Kristian Huselius. Just plain bad. Couldn't make anything happen in the offensive zone. Made errant passes and shot pucks into shin-pads and did little else.
- Lombardi. Basically the Flame's #2 centerman. Needs to start having more of an impact overall.
Next up - the penultimate battle between the NW division leaders! Flames VS. Avs!
Number-Crunching by Proxy
Gearing up to do a Flames/Kings Summary...
but in the meantime, for all you stats geeks and scoreboard watchers, here's a link to an interesting playoff odds calculator. As you can see, the Flames are in very good position...
(beware...the websites author is *gasp* an Oilers fan).
but in the meantime, for all you stats geeks and scoreboard watchers, here's a link to an interesting playoff odds calculator. As you can see, the Flames are in very good position...
(beware...the websites author is *gasp* an Oilers fan).
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Time to Commit Some Regicide!
"...if you know the name of the King or Queen being murdered, press 1..."
The Kings/Flames contest takes on added significance tonight in light of Colorado's victory over the Ducks yesterday (I guess I should just be happy that the BJ's and the Wild got the job done). As it sits now, the Flames are 5th in the West and 2nd in the NW division. A win this evening would vault them back on top with Colorado (plus a game in hand) and move them ever closer to that all important 96 point mark.
As for the Los Angeles, they currently reside in 10th place in West with 81 points, a mere 5 points away from the Flames. A victory for them would mean leapfrogging San Jose and drawing within a point of Edmonton and Vancouver.
Unfortunately for the Kings, they have been going through the same injury dance they seem to go through every year. The likes of Roenick, Frolov, Demitra and Val Bure are all shelved by various ailments. Throw in the shakey goaltending that they've received since January and you have the recipe for a coach firing. Which is, of course, what happened.
Since Murray's departure, Torchetti has lead LA to a 1-1 record, including the 7-4 spanking they received at the hands of the Canucks recently. Im not sure if this benefits the Flames at all, since Im totally ignorant of what the King's dressing room feels like post-Murray and what kind of coach Torchetti is. I guess we'll see.
What does benefit the Flames is the King's road record - a less than impressive 15-17-4. Of course, one of those 15 road victories came over Calgary in December when the then surging Los Angeles handed Calgary a humbling 5-2 defeat. That was during the height of Calgary's "lose after building a two goal lead" phase (and that game was no exception), so hopefully tonight's contest will have a different conclusion.
As far as the Flames are concerned, they're going to have to fight through some injuries (Warrener, Nilson and possibly McCarty) to re-discover their winning ways. As was documented extensively in the post below, if the Flames don't straighten up and fly right down the stretch, they could be battling for decent draft position rather than Lord Stanley come the end of April...
The Kings/Flames contest takes on added significance tonight in light of Colorado's victory over the Ducks yesterday (I guess I should just be happy that the BJ's and the Wild got the job done). As it sits now, the Flames are 5th in the West and 2nd in the NW division. A win this evening would vault them back on top with Colorado (plus a game in hand) and move them ever closer to that all important 96 point mark.
As for the Los Angeles, they currently reside in 10th place in West with 81 points, a mere 5 points away from the Flames. A victory for them would mean leapfrogging San Jose and drawing within a point of Edmonton and Vancouver.
Unfortunately for the Kings, they have been going through the same injury dance they seem to go through every year. The likes of Roenick, Frolov, Demitra and Val Bure are all shelved by various ailments. Throw in the shakey goaltending that they've received since January and you have the recipe for a coach firing. Which is, of course, what happened.
Since Murray's departure, Torchetti has lead LA to a 1-1 record, including the 7-4 spanking they received at the hands of the Canucks recently. Im not sure if this benefits the Flames at all, since Im totally ignorant of what the King's dressing room feels like post-Murray and what kind of coach Torchetti is. I guess we'll see.
What does benefit the Flames is the King's road record - a less than impressive 15-17-4. Of course, one of those 15 road victories came over Calgary in December when the then surging Los Angeles handed Calgary a humbling 5-2 defeat. That was during the height of Calgary's "lose after building a two goal lead" phase (and that game was no exception), so hopefully tonight's contest will have a different conclusion.
As far as the Flames are concerned, they're going to have to fight through some injuries (Warrener, Nilson and possibly McCarty) to re-discover their winning ways. As was documented extensively in the post below, if the Flames don't straighten up and fly right down the stretch, they could be battling for decent draft position rather than Lord Stanley come the end of April...
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Let The Nail-Biting Begin!
Here the Flames stand, balanced precariously on the edge of a precipice. On the one hand, they lead the highly competitive NW division with only 11 games remaining in the season. On the other hand, they teter periously close to a play-off-less oblivion.
Yup, it's a very fine line for the Flames right now. After their less-than-fruitful 7 game excursion, Calgary finds themselves beset on all sides by ugly circumstances...
Consider that only 5 points seperates the Flames from the 10th place Los Angeles Kings. Edmonton and Vancouver sit only 2 points away while Colorado is parallel with Calgary in the standings (with one less game remaining to play). Thus, not only is the NW division on the line, but the Flames very play-off lives as well. If their current clump continues, Calgary risks falling from 3rd in the conference to 8th (and lower) in remarkably sudden fashion. Without a strong finish, it's highly possible that Calgary could fall behind their divisional rivals as well as the surging Ducks and Sharks...which would leave them on the outside looking in.
Check out the standings here.
So the question is, will Calgary win the heart of the comely play-off princess? Or will they have to settle for her ugly friend - the dreaded "look ahead to next season"(*shudder*)?
Let's take a look at the factors facing Calgary in this all-important stretch drive.
The Bad:
The Flames haven't been very good recently. They are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games, a span during which they have allowed a total of 31 goals against (3.1 goals per game). While that hideous eye-sore of a loss to Nashville (9-4) is skewing the results a tad, it's still a highly dubious stat for a team that
a.) doesn't score a lot of goals and therefore
b.) relies on team defense and good goaltending to win games.
Not that goaltending has been a problem (mostly). Rather, Calgary has been suffering a lot of "brain cramps" near their own net recently. It doesn't help that Warrener is injured, Phaneuf is slumping and Ference is...well, Ference.
One can't simply point the finger at the defensemen, though. In fact, the entire team seemed to take a vacation from their own end of the rink for awhile - Im speaking, of course, of the 3 game stretch during the aforementioned road trip in which the Flames surrendered an average of 39 shots against. One game is forgivable. But 3? In a row? With this team of pluggers, grinders and defensmen, that simply shouldn't happen. And if they expect to be playing in May, it can't happen again.
The flip side, naturally, is Calgary's flacid offense (187 GF, 2.6 GPG) . Thanks to a combination of defense-first systems, a general lack of pure scorers in the line-up and ongoing player slumps (Im looking at you Iginla and Amonte. And Donovan. And Yelle. And Simon. And Lombardi. And...), the Flames are one of the LEAST capable teams in the league at scoring goals. The result is an overdependence on goaltending and a strong blueline that could eventually prove fatal should key pieces like Kipper or Regehr go down with injury. It will also prove crippling to Calgary's play-off hopes should their defensive play fail to tighten up significantly over the home stretch (relative to how it's been over the last 10 games).
External challenges for Calgary include the disgustingly close Western Conference. While both Vancouver and Edmonton have been less than stellar along with Calgary this month, both San Jose (8-1-1 last 10) and Anaheim (9-1-0) are two of the hottest teams in the league and have further crowded and complicated the play-off picture. In addition, Colorado continues to hang around despite all their significant injuries and seem to be the team closest to knocking the Flames from their NW Division perch. With 86 points and 11 games left, it means that Calgary will mostly likely need another 10 points of a possible 22 to make the post-season and probably around 13 of 22 to clinch the division. Which is, I'd say, all very possible should one or more of the above issues be properly addressed...
The Good:
It's not all doom and gloom for Calgary, however. Seven of the Flames remaining 11 games are in the 'Dome, which is a major plus. Calgary is 24-7-3 at home this year, a winning percentage of approximately 70%. Should they continue this level of success on familiar ice for the remainder of the season, the Flames will garner 5 wins out of those 7 home dates, which will give them 10 points and a probable play-off berth. Also, they would only need to accrue an additional 3 or 4 points from the remaining 4 road games to clinch the division. Huzzah!
There are some external factors assisting the Flames on their quest(s) - Colorado has recently suffered a number of season-ending injuries to the likes of Svatos and Tanguay, which will highly test their forward depth. In addition, thanks to Lacroix's baffling deadline deal for Jose Theodore, The Av's will be relying on 3rd string goaltender Petr Budaj to carry them to the end of the season. Should Budaj continue to play inconsistently, or slip even further, the Avalanche may be the team left breaking out the golf clubs early.
In addition, Calgary's 2 most hated rivals have stumbled in a manner similar to the Flames recently. Both have only 4 wins in their last 10 games and are still struggling mightily with their own internal issues. If Calgary can put together a strong final push, they should be able to keep themselves ahead of at least one, if not both, of the Canucks and Oilers.
The Ugly
As the regular season comes to a close, one can't help but feel disappointed in Jarome Iginla. Which is almost unfair to say, considering he did reach the 30 goal platform for the 5th straight year AND is the captain of a team that has lead it's division for most of the year.
That said, he's also the 7 million dollar face of a team that can't seem to score. He's currently 66th in league scoring in terms of points and 22nd in the league in terms of goals. the 22 year old Av's rookie, Marek Svatos, has one more tally than Iginla and has played 10 less games! Boo!
A lot of pundits going into the year expected Jarome to be among the league leaders in goals and points, but that hasn't happened (for whatever reason). Could it be the "year after signing a big contract" thing that seems to affect most athletes? Was it the year off during the lock-out? is it a lack of chemistry with his linemates? The defense-first Flames scheme? All of the above? Be it all or none, the Flames are likely going to need Jarome to step it up if they hope to have any success in the post-season. And, perhaps, will need him to do so earlier than that if they expect to get there at all.
Also, the injury bug has reared it's ugly head and taken a big, hateful bite out of the Flames of late. Warrener and Nilson were both felled by knee injuries while Leclerc suffered a broken wrist. McCarty sat out the final game of the road trip thanks to a wonky back. While the acquisition of Jamie Lundmark at the deadline has been paying dividends in the short term (5 points in 5 GP), it remains to be seen if he can step it up over the stretch with the absence of some of these notable veterans. I guess we can only wait and see...
The final ugly issue facing Calgary is their lack of a confident back-up goaltender. Sutter ran Sauve out of town on a rail, only to watch his replacement crap the bed against Nashville. Should Kipper tire or get injured before season's end, it's probable that Calgary will drop out of contention like lead through water.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So that's my general overview. There's a metric ton more to say, but Im tired and my fingers hurt. All we can do now is sit back and develop ulcers over the next few weeks. It all begins tomorrow when the Kings come into town.
GO FLAMES GO!!
Yup, it's a very fine line for the Flames right now. After their less-than-fruitful 7 game excursion, Calgary finds themselves beset on all sides by ugly circumstances...
Consider that only 5 points seperates the Flames from the 10th place Los Angeles Kings. Edmonton and Vancouver sit only 2 points away while Colorado is parallel with Calgary in the standings (with one less game remaining to play). Thus, not only is the NW division on the line, but the Flames very play-off lives as well. If their current clump continues, Calgary risks falling from 3rd in the conference to 8th (and lower) in remarkably sudden fashion. Without a strong finish, it's highly possible that Calgary could fall behind their divisional rivals as well as the surging Ducks and Sharks...which would leave them on the outside looking in.
Check out the standings here.
So the question is, will Calgary win the heart of the comely play-off princess? Or will they have to settle for her ugly friend - the dreaded "look ahead to next season"(*shudder*)?
Let's take a look at the factors facing Calgary in this all-important stretch drive.
The Bad:
The Flames haven't been very good recently. They are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games, a span during which they have allowed a total of 31 goals against (3.1 goals per game). While that hideous eye-sore of a loss to Nashville (9-4) is skewing the results a tad, it's still a highly dubious stat for a team that
a.) doesn't score a lot of goals and therefore
b.) relies on team defense and good goaltending to win games.
Not that goaltending has been a problem (mostly). Rather, Calgary has been suffering a lot of "brain cramps" near their own net recently. It doesn't help that Warrener is injured, Phaneuf is slumping and Ference is...well, Ference.
One can't simply point the finger at the defensemen, though. In fact, the entire team seemed to take a vacation from their own end of the rink for awhile - Im speaking, of course, of the 3 game stretch during the aforementioned road trip in which the Flames surrendered an average of 39 shots against. One game is forgivable. But 3? In a row? With this team of pluggers, grinders and defensmen, that simply shouldn't happen. And if they expect to be playing in May, it can't happen again.
The flip side, naturally, is Calgary's flacid offense (187 GF, 2.6 GPG) . Thanks to a combination of defense-first systems, a general lack of pure scorers in the line-up and ongoing player slumps (Im looking at you Iginla and Amonte. And Donovan. And Yelle. And Simon. And Lombardi. And...), the Flames are one of the LEAST capable teams in the league at scoring goals. The result is an overdependence on goaltending and a strong blueline that could eventually prove fatal should key pieces like Kipper or Regehr go down with injury. It will also prove crippling to Calgary's play-off hopes should their defensive play fail to tighten up significantly over the home stretch (relative to how it's been over the last 10 games).
External challenges for Calgary include the disgustingly close Western Conference. While both Vancouver and Edmonton have been less than stellar along with Calgary this month, both San Jose (8-1-1 last 10) and Anaheim (9-1-0) are two of the hottest teams in the league and have further crowded and complicated the play-off picture. In addition, Colorado continues to hang around despite all their significant injuries and seem to be the team closest to knocking the Flames from their NW Division perch. With 86 points and 11 games left, it means that Calgary will mostly likely need another 10 points of a possible 22 to make the post-season and probably around 13 of 22 to clinch the division. Which is, I'd say, all very possible should one or more of the above issues be properly addressed...
The Good:
It's not all doom and gloom for Calgary, however. Seven of the Flames remaining 11 games are in the 'Dome, which is a major plus. Calgary is 24-7-3 at home this year, a winning percentage of approximately 70%. Should they continue this level of success on familiar ice for the remainder of the season, the Flames will garner 5 wins out of those 7 home dates, which will give them 10 points and a probable play-off berth. Also, they would only need to accrue an additional 3 or 4 points from the remaining 4 road games to clinch the division. Huzzah!
There are some external factors assisting the Flames on their quest(s) - Colorado has recently suffered a number of season-ending injuries to the likes of Svatos and Tanguay, which will highly test their forward depth. In addition, thanks to Lacroix's baffling deadline deal for Jose Theodore, The Av's will be relying on 3rd string goaltender Petr Budaj to carry them to the end of the season. Should Budaj continue to play inconsistently, or slip even further, the Avalanche may be the team left breaking out the golf clubs early.
In addition, Calgary's 2 most hated rivals have stumbled in a manner similar to the Flames recently. Both have only 4 wins in their last 10 games and are still struggling mightily with their own internal issues. If Calgary can put together a strong final push, they should be able to keep themselves ahead of at least one, if not both, of the Canucks and Oilers.
The Ugly
As the regular season comes to a close, one can't help but feel disappointed in Jarome Iginla. Which is almost unfair to say, considering he did reach the 30 goal platform for the 5th straight year AND is the captain of a team that has lead it's division for most of the year.
That said, he's also the 7 million dollar face of a team that can't seem to score. He's currently 66th in league scoring in terms of points and 22nd in the league in terms of goals. the 22 year old Av's rookie, Marek Svatos, has one more tally than Iginla and has played 10 less games! Boo!
A lot of pundits going into the year expected Jarome to be among the league leaders in goals and points, but that hasn't happened (for whatever reason). Could it be the "year after signing a big contract" thing that seems to affect most athletes? Was it the year off during the lock-out? is it a lack of chemistry with his linemates? The defense-first Flames scheme? All of the above? Be it all or none, the Flames are likely going to need Jarome to step it up if they hope to have any success in the post-season. And, perhaps, will need him to do so earlier than that if they expect to get there at all.
Also, the injury bug has reared it's ugly head and taken a big, hateful bite out of the Flames of late. Warrener and Nilson were both felled by knee injuries while Leclerc suffered a broken wrist. McCarty sat out the final game of the road trip thanks to a wonky back. While the acquisition of Jamie Lundmark at the deadline has been paying dividends in the short term (5 points in 5 GP), it remains to be seen if he can step it up over the stretch with the absence of some of these notable veterans. I guess we can only wait and see...
The final ugly issue facing Calgary is their lack of a confident back-up goaltender. Sutter ran Sauve out of town on a rail, only to watch his replacement crap the bed against Nashville. Should Kipper tire or get injured before season's end, it's probable that Calgary will drop out of contention like lead through water.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So that's my general overview. There's a metric ton more to say, but Im tired and my fingers hurt. All we can do now is sit back and develop ulcers over the next few weeks. It all begins tomorrow when the Kings come into town.
GO FLAMES GO!!
Monday, March 27, 2006
Thank God it's Over
After the paper-cut-across-the-eye loss to the BJ's on Friday night, the Flames predictably ended their 7 game roadtrip with a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Stars.
And with the defeat came the sober realization that garnering 5 points from a possible 14 is a pretty good way to play yourself back into the fearful, brutal, street-fight that is the Western Conference Play-off race...
But first, lets narrow the focus:
Calgary played alright in Dallas, considering how tired and beat up they probably all were. Of course, they managed to make 2 very stupid decisions that resulted in the puck ending up their net (Short-handed goal against, 2on1 thanks to an ill-advised neutral zone pinch). In addition, the offense was limited to 2 powerplay goals, despite the fact the Flames were granted 11 PP chances on the afternoon, including an extended 5on3. While the PP did manage to score a couple, it is that Calgary shot blanks when the game was on the line which is the most lamentable part of the loss, I think.
In addition, it looks like Calgary is going to lose the services of Marcus Nilson for quite some time thanks to a knee-on-knee collision with Brendan Morrow. With the Flames now fighting for their play-off lives, it's hardly the best time to lose the team's +/- leader. Arrgggh.
The singular particle of good news is - the road trip's over. And the Flames are a far superior team at home. And, for rest of the season, they're going to have to be.
Positives:
- Jamie Lundmark. Scored a powerplay goal and nearly scored another, but was robbed by Turco. Was 66% in the face-off circle again. I didn't have many expectations of Lundmark when he was acquired, so his play has been a pleasant surprise.
- Jordan Leopold. At this point in the season, when a lot of players seem to be giving into fatigue, Leopold has risen his game to a new level. Another 2 points last night, including his second goal of the season. Easily one of the best blueliners for the Flames right now.
- Limited Dallas to 23 shots, despite killing 8 penalties.
Negatives:
- Lack of offense. 11 powerplays should translate to more than 2 goals. Calgary's primary offensive trio (Iginla, Langkow, Huselius) haven't done a whole lot recently.
- Dion Phaneuf. I think the long grind is starting to get to the Dion because, well, he's been pretty bad of late. He was the cause of the SH-GWG goal against in Minnesota, the GWG goal against in Columbus, and was on for the SH goal against yesterday in Dallas. In addition, the only scoresheet contributions he's been making recently have been penalties.
- Andrew Ference. My favorite punching bag. Stands around as Kapanen scores the shorthanded goal and then watches as Arnott slips the puck in the net for the GWG. Got some PP time yesterday and looked lost and useless. He's a team low -13.
- Matthew Lombardi. Doesn't make a dent in his return to the line-up.
- Jarome Iginla. Another 1-goal loss, another game where Iginla fails to tickle the twine. Scored all of once during the entire 7 game roadtrip.
- Officiating. An incredible 28 penalties were called on the night. Many were deserved, many were nominal. It was the first time I've ever seen three seperate "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalties called in a single contest.
- Tony Amonte. I honestly can't remember the last time this guy scored a goal.
Next up...roadtrip Post-Mortem + a look at the Flames play-off berth chances.
And with the defeat came the sober realization that garnering 5 points from a possible 14 is a pretty good way to play yourself back into the fearful, brutal, street-fight that is the Western Conference Play-off race...
But first, lets narrow the focus:
Calgary played alright in Dallas, considering how tired and beat up they probably all were. Of course, they managed to make 2 very stupid decisions that resulted in the puck ending up their net (Short-handed goal against, 2on1 thanks to an ill-advised neutral zone pinch). In addition, the offense was limited to 2 powerplay goals, despite the fact the Flames were granted 11 PP chances on the afternoon, including an extended 5on3. While the PP did manage to score a couple, it is that Calgary shot blanks when the game was on the line which is the most lamentable part of the loss, I think.
In addition, it looks like Calgary is going to lose the services of Marcus Nilson for quite some time thanks to a knee-on-knee collision with Brendan Morrow. With the Flames now fighting for their play-off lives, it's hardly the best time to lose the team's +/- leader. Arrgggh.
The singular particle of good news is - the road trip's over. And the Flames are a far superior team at home. And, for rest of the season, they're going to have to be.
Positives:
- Jamie Lundmark. Scored a powerplay goal and nearly scored another, but was robbed by Turco. Was 66% in the face-off circle again. I didn't have many expectations of Lundmark when he was acquired, so his play has been a pleasant surprise.
- Jordan Leopold. At this point in the season, when a lot of players seem to be giving into fatigue, Leopold has risen his game to a new level. Another 2 points last night, including his second goal of the season. Easily one of the best blueliners for the Flames right now.
- Limited Dallas to 23 shots, despite killing 8 penalties.
Negatives:
- Lack of offense. 11 powerplays should translate to more than 2 goals. Calgary's primary offensive trio (Iginla, Langkow, Huselius) haven't done a whole lot recently.
- Dion Phaneuf. I think the long grind is starting to get to the Dion because, well, he's been pretty bad of late. He was the cause of the SH-GWG goal against in Minnesota, the GWG goal against in Columbus, and was on for the SH goal against yesterday in Dallas. In addition, the only scoresheet contributions he's been making recently have been penalties.
- Andrew Ference. My favorite punching bag. Stands around as Kapanen scores the shorthanded goal and then watches as Arnott slips the puck in the net for the GWG. Got some PP time yesterday and looked lost and useless. He's a team low -13.
- Matthew Lombardi. Doesn't make a dent in his return to the line-up.
- Jarome Iginla. Another 1-goal loss, another game where Iginla fails to tickle the twine. Scored all of once during the entire 7 game roadtrip.
- Officiating. An incredible 28 penalties were called on the night. Many were deserved, many were nominal. It was the first time I've ever seen three seperate "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalties called in a single contest.
- Tony Amonte. I honestly can't remember the last time this guy scored a goal.
Next up...roadtrip Post-Mortem + a look at the Flames play-off berth chances.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Improbabilities Abound!
The Flames added another odd chapter to their 7 game roadtrip by exploding for 7 goals last night against the Blues.
That's right. 7!
So, less than a week after suffering their worst defeat of the season, the Flames decide to post their biggest victory.
Granted, they were playing a deflated St. Louis Blues team. And granted, Calgary benefitted from some really shakey opposition goaltending. But I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Like a lot of Flames fans, I've been waiting for this blow-out win all season long...
...speaking of waiting all season long, Leopold finally scored last night. In fact, he nearly had two goals, the first being later credited to Darren McCarty. thankfully, Leo uncorked a floating wrister that made it's way past Lalime in the second - and, amazingly, it wasn't given to someone else or waved off for some reason. I half expected Leo to collect the puck as a souvenir of removing that giant ape from his back.
And, as if the game wasn't odd enough, he of the maligned trade deadline acquistion (Jamie Lundmark) made the best of his 12 minutes of ice and tallied three assists (all in the second). He was also a stellar 9 for 13 (69%) in the face-off dot. Not too shabby! It may be difficult for Lombardi to return to the line-up any time soon if Lundmark continues to contribute in this fashion.
Overall, it was nice to see Calgary win this kind of important game in such convincing fashion. I was nervous going into last night's contest, given Calgary's penchant for playing down to their competition on the road. Imagine how pleasantly suprised I was to see "CGY - 5 STL - 0, 2nd Int." crawl across the screen while I was watching Montreal rough up Toronto last night (*giggle).
Yes, it was pretty close to a perfect evening. Had the Canuck's managed to get the job done in regulation yesterday, I probably could have gone to bed and died happily in my sleep.
Positives:
- Scoring oh glorious scoring!! Goals raining as if from the heavens! Flames score 7 for the first time this year and finally manage to blow someone out.
- Jordan Leopold. Scores. Finally. Anyone who reads this regularly knows I had him in the "negatives" section a few posts ago for not scoring. He sure showed me. 1 goal and 3 points on the night.
- Jamie Lundmark. Draws into the line-up at Lombardi's expense and records 3 straight assists in the 2nd period and dominates in the face-off circle.
- Roman Hamrlik. 2 goals on 2 absolute bullet shots. When was the last time a Calgary defensman scored a short-handed goal?
- Powerplay. Goes 3for6 on the night.
- Defense. After 3 consecutive games of allowing 35+ shots against, Calgary limited the Blues to a repsectable 22 last night.
- Secondary scoring. Finally a game where the 3rd and 4th liners show-up on the scoresheet en masse.
Negatives:
- Too many penalties. Again. Gave up 7 PP advantages on the night.
- Dion Phaneuf. Didn't register a point, but did get 8 minutes in penalties.
- The first line. It's a minor complaint, but Calgary's #1 line of Iginla, Huselius and Langkow collected all of 2 points on the evening (Langkow/Iginla assists). Given the quality of defensemen and goalies they were facing, it would have been nice to see these guys pad their stats a little. If only for the resultant confidence boost.
Next up...the BJ's tonight!
*Note - Calgary only needs another 2 points to garner 7 total from this trip. Let's hope they get the job against Columbus before heading into Dallas on Sunday...
That's right. 7!
So, less than a week after suffering their worst defeat of the season, the Flames decide to post their biggest victory.
Granted, they were playing a deflated St. Louis Blues team. And granted, Calgary benefitted from some really shakey opposition goaltending. But I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Like a lot of Flames fans, I've been waiting for this blow-out win all season long...
...speaking of waiting all season long, Leopold finally scored last night. In fact, he nearly had two goals, the first being later credited to Darren McCarty. thankfully, Leo uncorked a floating wrister that made it's way past Lalime in the second - and, amazingly, it wasn't given to someone else or waved off for some reason. I half expected Leo to collect the puck as a souvenir of removing that giant ape from his back.
And, as if the game wasn't odd enough, he of the maligned trade deadline acquistion (Jamie Lundmark) made the best of his 12 minutes of ice and tallied three assists (all in the second). He was also a stellar 9 for 13 (69%) in the face-off dot. Not too shabby! It may be difficult for Lombardi to return to the line-up any time soon if Lundmark continues to contribute in this fashion.
Overall, it was nice to see Calgary win this kind of important game in such convincing fashion. I was nervous going into last night's contest, given Calgary's penchant for playing down to their competition on the road. Imagine how pleasantly suprised I was to see "CGY - 5 STL - 0, 2nd Int." crawl across the screen while I was watching Montreal rough up Toronto last night (*giggle).
Yes, it was pretty close to a perfect evening. Had the Canuck's managed to get the job done in regulation yesterday, I probably could have gone to bed and died happily in my sleep.
Positives:
- Scoring oh glorious scoring!! Goals raining as if from the heavens! Flames score 7 for the first time this year and finally manage to blow someone out.
- Jordan Leopold. Scores. Finally. Anyone who reads this regularly knows I had him in the "negatives" section a few posts ago for not scoring. He sure showed me. 1 goal and 3 points on the night.
- Jamie Lundmark. Draws into the line-up at Lombardi's expense and records 3 straight assists in the 2nd period and dominates in the face-off circle.
- Roman Hamrlik. 2 goals on 2 absolute bullet shots. When was the last time a Calgary defensman scored a short-handed goal?
- Powerplay. Goes 3for6 on the night.
- Defense. After 3 consecutive games of allowing 35+ shots against, Calgary limited the Blues to a repsectable 22 last night.
- Secondary scoring. Finally a game where the 3rd and 4th liners show-up on the scoresheet en masse.
Negatives:
- Too many penalties. Again. Gave up 7 PP advantages on the night.
- Dion Phaneuf. Didn't register a point, but did get 8 minutes in penalties.
- The first line. It's a minor complaint, but Calgary's #1 line of Iginla, Huselius and Langkow collected all of 2 points on the evening (Langkow/Iginla assists). Given the quality of defensemen and goalies they were facing, it would have been nice to see these guys pad their stats a little. If only for the resultant confidence boost.
Next up...the BJ's tonight!
*Note - Calgary only needs another 2 points to garner 7 total from this trip. Let's hope they get the job against Columbus before heading into Dallas on Sunday...
Thursday, March 23, 2006
From Should to Must
With nearly half a dozen team nipping at their heels in the standings, the Flames need to take advantage of the bottom-feeding Blues tonight.
Colorado is a measley one point back of Calgary for the NW division lead, while Vancouver is 2 points back and Edmonton 3. Anaheim's overtime victory over the Av's last night also puts them 2 points back of Calgary, with both San Jose and LA on the outside looking in with 79 points each (5 points back).
Yes, it's a veritable cluster-eff. The good news for the Flames is they have games in hand on Colorado (2), Vancouver (2), Los Angeles (2) and Edmonton (1). The other POTENTIAL good news is that the Flames next two contests are against the aforementioned St. Louis Blues as well as another basement dweller, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both of whom have been out of the play-offs for awhile and are simply playing out the stretch.
The other, other good news is that the Blues have come back down to earth and have lost 4 straight (outscored 18-5). Part of the blame probably lies with the losses of stand-out goaltender Curtis Sanford and former Calder trophy winning defenseman Barrett Jackman (not to mention the trading of Weight, Sillinger, Weinrich). The Blues now have precious little depth up-front, on defense and in net, and have very little motivation to continue to put forth 100% every night...
...but, of course, the Flames can't take this game, or their opponents, lightly. The bad news for Calgary is that they have played pretty poorly themselves recently. A stretch of 1 win in 4 games, which included their worst loss in 2 seasons, means that Calgary can ill-afford to lack any drive or focus tonight (or for the rest of the season, no doubt). Their recent ineffectual play has moved this "should-win" game into "must-win" territory...
Here's hoping the boys bear down tonight and move ever closer to clinching a playoff berth. The faster they get to 96 points, the better.
Colorado is a measley one point back of Calgary for the NW division lead, while Vancouver is 2 points back and Edmonton 3. Anaheim's overtime victory over the Av's last night also puts them 2 points back of Calgary, with both San Jose and LA on the outside looking in with 79 points each (5 points back).
Yes, it's a veritable cluster-eff. The good news for the Flames is they have games in hand on Colorado (2), Vancouver (2), Los Angeles (2) and Edmonton (1). The other POTENTIAL good news is that the Flames next two contests are against the aforementioned St. Louis Blues as well as another basement dweller, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both of whom have been out of the play-offs for awhile and are simply playing out the stretch.
The other, other good news is that the Blues have come back down to earth and have lost 4 straight (outscored 18-5). Part of the blame probably lies with the losses of stand-out goaltender Curtis Sanford and former Calder trophy winning defenseman Barrett Jackman (not to mention the trading of Weight, Sillinger, Weinrich). The Blues now have precious little depth up-front, on defense and in net, and have very little motivation to continue to put forth 100% every night...
...but, of course, the Flames can't take this game, or their opponents, lightly. The bad news for Calgary is that they have played pretty poorly themselves recently. A stretch of 1 win in 4 games, which included their worst loss in 2 seasons, means that Calgary can ill-afford to lack any drive or focus tonight (or for the rest of the season, no doubt). Their recent ineffectual play has moved this "should-win" game into "must-win" territory...
Here's hoping the boys bear down tonight and move ever closer to clinching a playoff berth. The faster they get to 96 points, the better.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Home is Where the Heart is
I had a nice, fat, play-off prognostication post all ready to go yesterday when my particular blogger server decided to take an extended vacation. As it is, the post is now useless after last night's action, so I'll have to do up a fresh one. Booo!
What Im left to talk about today is, unfortunately, another Flames road loss. In keeping with their "win one, lose one" mentality when away from the dome, the Flames were defeated by the Wild last night.
In convincing fashion.
For the 3rd straight game, Calgary was badly outshot and outchanced. Apparently, only Kiprusoffian heroics kept the score close. In addition, the old offensive-power-outage took effect last night, rendering the Flames almost totally ineffectual at both ends of the rink.
Of course, this personally wasn't a shock to me. Since October, Calgary has been a bad team on the road. They've been slightly better, during short bursts, but almost never "good". In fact, the brutal road-trip to open the season seems to have left an indelible mark on the team's psyche - they seem to lapse back into the poor habits that plagued them over those first few weeks whenever they travel away from home.
In contrast, the Flames that appeared during 10 home games in November seems to be the Flames team that usually shows up here in Calgary. And that's the pattern that Calgary has been repeating for most of the season: a confused, inconsistent and defensively lax team vs. a collection of strong-willed, well-organized world-beaters. It's safe to say that the Flames would be well on their way to clinching the division and play-off berth if they could have managed to take the latter team on the road more often this season.
Oh well. All is not lost. The Flames have two winnable games coming up (Blues and BJ's) before meeting Dallas to end the road trip. If we can coax at least another 4 points out of this excursion, I'll be happy.
Positives:
- Kiprusoff. Of course. Only 2 goals against in 37 shots. Could have been a 5-1 loss instead.
- Byron Ritchie. Second game back and he manages to tickle the twine.
- Less than 5 PP's against! Finally figure out how to stay out of the box. Not that it helped a whole lot.
Negatives:
- Fall below .500 on the road again.
- Still in a dogfight for the NW division and play-off spot.
- No offense. Kipper kept it close, but the Flames forwards couldn't seem to get it going (again).
- No Defense. The Flames surrender 38 shots against(!). Over the last 3 games, Calgary has allowed an average of 41 shots on net. Just plain bad.
- Powerplay gets shut-out. 0 for 3 on the night.
Next up...The Blues.
What Im left to talk about today is, unfortunately, another Flames road loss. In keeping with their "win one, lose one" mentality when away from the dome, the Flames were defeated by the Wild last night.
In convincing fashion.
For the 3rd straight game, Calgary was badly outshot and outchanced. Apparently, only Kiprusoffian heroics kept the score close. In addition, the old offensive-power-outage took effect last night, rendering the Flames almost totally ineffectual at both ends of the rink.
Of course, this personally wasn't a shock to me. Since October, Calgary has been a bad team on the road. They've been slightly better, during short bursts, but almost never "good". In fact, the brutal road-trip to open the season seems to have left an indelible mark on the team's psyche - they seem to lapse back into the poor habits that plagued them over those first few weeks whenever they travel away from home.
In contrast, the Flames that appeared during 10 home games in November seems to be the Flames team that usually shows up here in Calgary. And that's the pattern that Calgary has been repeating for most of the season: a confused, inconsistent and defensively lax team vs. a collection of strong-willed, well-organized world-beaters. It's safe to say that the Flames would be well on their way to clinching the division and play-off berth if they could have managed to take the latter team on the road more often this season.
Oh well. All is not lost. The Flames have two winnable games coming up (Blues and BJ's) before meeting Dallas to end the road trip. If we can coax at least another 4 points out of this excursion, I'll be happy.
Positives:
- Kiprusoff. Of course. Only 2 goals against in 37 shots. Could have been a 5-1 loss instead.
- Byron Ritchie. Second game back and he manages to tickle the twine.
- Less than 5 PP's against! Finally figure out how to stay out of the box. Not that it helped a whole lot.
Negatives:
- Fall below .500 on the road again.
- Still in a dogfight for the NW division and play-off spot.
- No offense. Kipper kept it close, but the Flames forwards couldn't seem to get it going (again).
- No Defense. The Flames surrender 38 shots against(!). Over the last 3 games, Calgary has allowed an average of 41 shots on net. Just plain bad.
- Powerplay gets shut-out. 0 for 3 on the night.
Next up...The Blues.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Rising Flames, Sinking Orcas
I've decided to continue to bad-mouth players out of frustration in my "negatives" section.
Why? Well, recently I was down on Phaneuf for not producing offensively as he had been earlier in the season...next two games he gets 2 PP goals and an assist.
Last post, I lambasted Jarome for his lackluster effort in Nashville. Next game, Iginla gets a PP goal and assists the game winner.
Of course, I've been badmouthing players all year in the negative section, but this recent string of coincidental good-play-after-a-Metro-Gnome call-out has convinced me to become even more unfair and scathing in the "negatives" recap section towards individual players. Hell, if they're playing badly it certainly won't HURT them...
(unless, against-all-odds, they read this blog and have the emotional sensitivity of a 12 year old girl).
So the Flames managed to beat the Wild again last night, albeit in less than glorious fashion. For the second straight game, Calgary was badly outshot. While this was largely due to the unbalanced penalty calls (7 to 3) and an extended 50n3 PP for the Wild in the 2nd period, it still bodes ill for a team based on a "defense-first" philosophy.
That said, it was nice to see Calgary respond with a win after the disaster down south. Also, I think the best part of the game itself was the play of the Flames newly minted #1 forward trio (Juice, Langkow, Iginla). For the first time in awhile Calgary looked to actually have a bona fide #1 offensive unit (rather than an endless series of 3rd lines). They accounted for all 3 Calgary goals - and none of them were empty-netters or 3-whack garbage goals. Huzzah! Now we just need to put it all together - scoring first line, great goalie, good team defense - in a single game (and more or less consistenly thereafter).
On a wound-poking note, good to see Vancouver continue their meteoric plunge with a ghastly effort against Detroit last night. Keep it up 'Nuckers!
Positives:
- Canucks lose again
- Flames repsond to the drubbing and put some distance between themselves and Colorado.
- Jarome Iginla. Still a thorn in Minnesota's side. One of his best games in awhile.
- Langkow/Huselius. Each has 4 points in the last 2 games. That's like a player getting back-to-back hat tricks on any other team.
- Dion Phaneuf. Another assist and 6 hits on the night. Threw himself fearlessly at that monster Boogaard all night.
- Tony Amonte. Still can't score, but his tireless penalty killing and timely back-check on Gaborik in the 3rd were game-savers.
- Kiprusoff. 37 shots against, only 2 goals allowed.
Negatives:
- Still continue to take mountains of penalties. While a few of the calls seemed rather phantom to me (Phaneuf "charging" penalty in particular), the Flames need to find a way to stay out of the box. Bribe the bloody officials if you have to!
- Simon/Kobasew/Lombo. While I really like this trio as the #2 line, they had some issues last night. Seem to be great when they are forechecking and cycling, but have trouble in their own end. Sutter seperated them after their running around lead to the first goal against. Hopefully they can get it together defensively because they seem excellent when they're in the opposition's end.
- Jordan Leopold. It's about damn time this guy scored a goal. I mean, even Bouwmeester scored recently.
Next up - Minny repeat (I hope).
Why? Well, recently I was down on Phaneuf for not producing offensively as he had been earlier in the season...next two games he gets 2 PP goals and an assist.
Last post, I lambasted Jarome for his lackluster effort in Nashville. Next game, Iginla gets a PP goal and assists the game winner.
Of course, I've been badmouthing players all year in the negative section, but this recent string of coincidental good-play-after-a-Metro-Gnome call-out has convinced me to become even more unfair and scathing in the "negatives" recap section towards individual players. Hell, if they're playing badly it certainly won't HURT them...
(unless, against-all-odds, they read this blog and have the emotional sensitivity of a 12 year old girl).
So the Flames managed to beat the Wild again last night, albeit in less than glorious fashion. For the second straight game, Calgary was badly outshot. While this was largely due to the unbalanced penalty calls (7 to 3) and an extended 50n3 PP for the Wild in the 2nd period, it still bodes ill for a team based on a "defense-first" philosophy.
That said, it was nice to see Calgary respond with a win after the disaster down south. Also, I think the best part of the game itself was the play of the Flames newly minted #1 forward trio (Juice, Langkow, Iginla). For the first time in awhile Calgary looked to actually have a bona fide #1 offensive unit (rather than an endless series of 3rd lines). They accounted for all 3 Calgary goals - and none of them were empty-netters or 3-whack garbage goals. Huzzah! Now we just need to put it all together - scoring first line, great goalie, good team defense - in a single game (and more or less consistenly thereafter).
On a wound-poking note, good to see Vancouver continue their meteoric plunge with a ghastly effort against Detroit last night. Keep it up 'Nuckers!
Positives:
- Canucks lose again
- Flames repsond to the drubbing and put some distance between themselves and Colorado.
- Jarome Iginla. Still a thorn in Minnesota's side. One of his best games in awhile.
- Langkow/Huselius. Each has 4 points in the last 2 games. That's like a player getting back-to-back hat tricks on any other team.
- Dion Phaneuf. Another assist and 6 hits on the night. Threw himself fearlessly at that monster Boogaard all night.
- Tony Amonte. Still can't score, but his tireless penalty killing and timely back-check on Gaborik in the 3rd were game-savers.
- Kiprusoff. 37 shots against, only 2 goals allowed.
Negatives:
- Still continue to take mountains of penalties. While a few of the calls seemed rather phantom to me (Phaneuf "charging" penalty in particular), the Flames need to find a way to stay out of the box. Bribe the bloody officials if you have to!
- Simon/Kobasew/Lombo. While I really like this trio as the #2 line, they had some issues last night. Seem to be great when they are forechecking and cycling, but have trouble in their own end. Sutter seperated them after their running around lead to the first goal against. Hopefully they can get it together defensively because they seem excellent when they're in the opposition's end.
- Jordan Leopold. It's about damn time this guy scored a goal. I mean, even Bouwmeester scored recently.
Next up - Minny repeat (I hope).
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Flames Drop the Soap in Nashville
I had a few other titles in mind, but chose this one in order to stay within the bounds of good taste.
So after allowing circumstance and fate to determine the outcome of their last game against Edmonton, the Flames decided to take matters into their own hands against Nashville. Yup, there was no flukey bounces and broken sticks handing Calgary the loss. Just terrible, terrible hockey.
To be fair, I didn't (couldn't) watch the game. By all accounts, though, there wasn't an aspect of Calgary's defensive game that was even partially decent against the Preds last night.
Boucher allowed more goals in a single game than Kipper allows in 4. He didn't get much help, however, since the Flames managed to allow 47 shots against (the most this year). As a team, the Flames were a collective -30 on the night. The only bright spot, the powerplay (and Phaneuf), was drastically overshadowed by the worst defeat suffered by the club in recent memory.
And with the defeat, Calgary officially becomes a bad road team. All of the Flames worst losses have come away from the Dome this year (6-3 vs. Minny, 6-3 vs. Detroit, 7-3/7-4 vs. Colorado, 9-4 vs. Nashville). In addition, the set-back to the Predators plunges the Flames below the .500 mark on the road (13-14-5). Considering that Calgary didn't give up 7 goals even once last season (to my recollection) and the fact that the Flames defensive corps is arguable better than it was last year, it's hard to fathom how Calgary can be such a drastically inferior team (defensively speaking) when they're the visitors this season. The most worrisome part is the Flames have Colorado and Edmonton breathing down their necks and 5 more games left on this road trip. Lets hope Calgary uses last nights embarrassment as a rallying point to improve going forward. Otherwise, the Flames are in for a very difficult stretch run...
Positives:
- The Powerplay, which has been ineffective of late, accounts for all 4 Flames goals.
- Dion Phaneuf. I bemoan his lack of production and he promptly scores a couple of goals, including a beauty of a break-away. Two more tallies will give him the club record for goals in a season by a rookie d-man.
Negatives...(hmmm, where to begin):
- Brian Boucher. Is it exagerating to call his performance last night a "career killer"? Probably not.
- Terrible defense. Calgary plays like a Junior team in their own end, giving up numerous quality chances and 47 shots. Pitiful.
- Undisciplined. Hand Nashville 9 powerplays over the course of the contest, many of them being of the needless variety (Im looking at you, Chris Simon).
- Penalty Kill. Allows 3 goals against.
- Lose to Nashville again. Preds are to the Flames what the Blues are to the Canucks.
- Jarome Iginla. Another mailed in performance. On a night where his team is getting thrashed, Iginla turns in a -2, 1 shot performance. This despite enjoying 25 minutes of ice-time, more than 8 of which was on the powerplay. Seems to be working to cement his reputation as one of the most overpaid and overrated players in the league this season.
- Robyn Regehr and Jordan Leopold. I didn't see their play, but when you're the top d pairing and you end the night -3 and your team is shelled for 9 goals against, it's a safe bet you played poorly.
- Drop to below .500 on the road.
- Suffer worse loss in the last 2 seasons.
The Flames have a chance to bounce back against the Wild tonight. It'll be very interesting to see how this team responds to this kind of adversity. Will they fold their tents in humiliation? Or will they pull a Sabres (remember their horrible 10-4 defeat at the hands of the Senators early in the season?) and use this loss to rally around as group. Let's hope it's the latter...
So after allowing circumstance and fate to determine the outcome of their last game against Edmonton, the Flames decided to take matters into their own hands against Nashville. Yup, there was no flukey bounces and broken sticks handing Calgary the loss. Just terrible, terrible hockey.
To be fair, I didn't (couldn't) watch the game. By all accounts, though, there wasn't an aspect of Calgary's defensive game that was even partially decent against the Preds last night.
Boucher allowed more goals in a single game than Kipper allows in 4. He didn't get much help, however, since the Flames managed to allow 47 shots against (the most this year). As a team, the Flames were a collective -30 on the night. The only bright spot, the powerplay (and Phaneuf), was drastically overshadowed by the worst defeat suffered by the club in recent memory.
And with the defeat, Calgary officially becomes a bad road team. All of the Flames worst losses have come away from the Dome this year (6-3 vs. Minny, 6-3 vs. Detroit, 7-3/7-4 vs. Colorado, 9-4 vs. Nashville). In addition, the set-back to the Predators plunges the Flames below the .500 mark on the road (13-14-5). Considering that Calgary didn't give up 7 goals even once last season (to my recollection) and the fact that the Flames defensive corps is arguable better than it was last year, it's hard to fathom how Calgary can be such a drastically inferior team (defensively speaking) when they're the visitors this season. The most worrisome part is the Flames have Colorado and Edmonton breathing down their necks and 5 more games left on this road trip. Lets hope Calgary uses last nights embarrassment as a rallying point to improve going forward. Otherwise, the Flames are in for a very difficult stretch run...
Positives:
- The Powerplay, which has been ineffective of late, accounts for all 4 Flames goals.
- Dion Phaneuf. I bemoan his lack of production and he promptly scores a couple of goals, including a beauty of a break-away. Two more tallies will give him the club record for goals in a season by a rookie d-man.
Negatives...(hmmm, where to begin):
- Brian Boucher. Is it exagerating to call his performance last night a "career killer"? Probably not.
- Terrible defense. Calgary plays like a Junior team in their own end, giving up numerous quality chances and 47 shots. Pitiful.
- Undisciplined. Hand Nashville 9 powerplays over the course of the contest, many of them being of the needless variety (Im looking at you, Chris Simon).
- Penalty Kill. Allows 3 goals against.
- Lose to Nashville again. Preds are to the Flames what the Blues are to the Canucks.
- Jarome Iginla. Another mailed in performance. On a night where his team is getting thrashed, Iginla turns in a -2, 1 shot performance. This despite enjoying 25 minutes of ice-time, more than 8 of which was on the powerplay. Seems to be working to cement his reputation as one of the most overpaid and overrated players in the league this season.
- Robyn Regehr and Jordan Leopold. I didn't see their play, but when you're the top d pairing and you end the night -3 and your team is shelled for 9 goals against, it's a safe bet you played poorly.
- Drop to below .500 on the road.
- Suffer worse loss in the last 2 seasons.
The Flames have a chance to bounce back against the Wild tonight. It'll be very interesting to see how this team responds to this kind of adversity. Will they fold their tents in humiliation? Or will they pull a Sabres (remember their horrible 10-4 defeat at the hands of the Senators early in the season?) and use this loss to rally around as group. Let's hope it's the latter...
Friday, March 17, 2006
Boh-Well
I'm never happy after a loss, particularly a loss to Edmonton. However if it takes a disallowed post, 2 fluke occurances and an overtime for the Oilers to beat us, then so be it. Course, they are a couple other reasons Calgary managed to lose this one as well:
- Crap Powerplay. 0-7 on the night and frequently totally ineffective.
- No Primary scoring. Jarome and co. manage to miss a number of opportunities to score.
- Shabby 3rd period. Despite leading, the Flames came out flat in the 3rd and allowed the Oil back in the game. That's 2 straight contests where Calgary has looked like the inferior club in the last period (see - 3 goals against in the 3rd vs. Colorado).
Of course, all of the above are simply aspects of Calgary's continuing overall offensive ineffectiveness. Jarome Iginla misses an open net by hitting the post in the dying minute of the game? Par for the course this season.
As mentioned, though, despite Calgary's inability to score, Edmonton only won this game by the grace of God. broken sticks and negligent linesmen. Sudden, un-needed whistles and pucks deflecting off skates. It all added up to "one of those nights" for Calgary. Let's hope the same can't be said on Saturday night...
Positives:
- The second line of Simon, Lombardi and Kobasew are starting to crystalize into an effective trio. Frequently the best line for Calgary last night.
- Mike Leclerc returns to the line-up to score his first (and, almost, second) goal as a Flame. Much more effective on the 4th line.
- Jordan Leopold. Didn't get any points but seemed very poised and in control all night.
Negatives:
- Lose to the Oilers thanks to a lackluster 3rd period and powerplay. And odd circumstances.
- Dion Phaneuf. While still decent, hasn't been producing offensive numbers like he was before the Olympic break. Needs to get back on track.
- As mentioned, the powerplay. Wasted numerous opportunities and looked disjointed most of the night. The Flames were frequently better at 5on5 than they were at 5on4.
- Jarome Iginla. Minus 1 on the night and only 2 shots. Missed a glorious chance to put the game away.
- Lots of missed shots. Calgary literally shot as many pucks wide (20) as they got on net (20).
- Lack of killer instinct bites Calgary in the ass. Again.
Next up is Nashville. Gotta say, Im not too optimistic about this one. Given Calgary's mediocre road record as well as Nashville's seeming ability to beat us at will this year, the odds are stacked against us. Here's hoping we pull one out tomorrow...
- Crap Powerplay. 0-7 on the night and frequently totally ineffective.
- No Primary scoring. Jarome and co. manage to miss a number of opportunities to score.
- Shabby 3rd period. Despite leading, the Flames came out flat in the 3rd and allowed the Oil back in the game. That's 2 straight contests where Calgary has looked like the inferior club in the last period (see - 3 goals against in the 3rd vs. Colorado).
Of course, all of the above are simply aspects of Calgary's continuing overall offensive ineffectiveness. Jarome Iginla misses an open net by hitting the post in the dying minute of the game? Par for the course this season.
As mentioned, though, despite Calgary's inability to score, Edmonton only won this game by the grace of God. broken sticks and negligent linesmen. Sudden, un-needed whistles and pucks deflecting off skates. It all added up to "one of those nights" for Calgary. Let's hope the same can't be said on Saturday night...
Positives:
- The second line of Simon, Lombardi and Kobasew are starting to crystalize into an effective trio. Frequently the best line for Calgary last night.
- Mike Leclerc returns to the line-up to score his first (and, almost, second) goal as a Flame. Much more effective on the 4th line.
- Jordan Leopold. Didn't get any points but seemed very poised and in control all night.
Negatives:
- Lose to the Oilers thanks to a lackluster 3rd period and powerplay. And odd circumstances.
- Dion Phaneuf. While still decent, hasn't been producing offensive numbers like he was before the Olympic break. Needs to get back on track.
- As mentioned, the powerplay. Wasted numerous opportunities and looked disjointed most of the night. The Flames were frequently better at 5on5 than they were at 5on4.
- Jarome Iginla. Minus 1 on the night and only 2 shots. Missed a glorious chance to put the game away.
- Lots of missed shots. Calgary literally shot as many pucks wide (20) as they got on net (20).
- Lack of killer instinct bites Calgary in the ass. Again.
Next up is Nashville. Gotta say, Im not too optimistic about this one. Given Calgary's mediocre road record as well as Nashville's seeming ability to beat us at will this year, the odds are stacked against us. Here's hoping we pull one out tomorrow...
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
First Again Baby!
Like a cracker to the starving.
That might be the only way to describe the Flames offensive "outburst" against the Avs last night. Four goals ain't much to many teams, but it's a vertiable avalanche (ironic pun intended) of offense for the Flames. Consider that Calgary also had a potential goal waved off as well as 3 posts on the night and that means that the Flames came within a hair of nearly doubling their post-Olympic offensive production last night. Whew. Now we have to find ways to keep it going...
Of course, Calgary did manage to find a way to turn a potential blow-out victory into a one goal cardiac arrest (as usual). Posts and non-goals aside, The Flame's 3rd period pseudo-collapse can be forgiven because:
1.) They still won the game
2.) The avalanche have a very good first line
3.) The refs sucked
Nice to see players like Huselius, Leopold and Iginla look genuinely DANGEROUS in the offensive zone again. Not to mention the continued improvement of Chris Simon. Part of that is probably due to Sutter playing him with fast, water-bug like players such as Kobasew and Lombardi...a cunning strategem to be sure! Let's hope all four of these players continue to play like this more or less consistently for the rest of the year...
On a "salt-in-the-wound" kind of note, Vancouver lost their 4th straight last night. Baha.
Positives:
- Finally find a way to score. PLEASE KEEP DOING THIS.
- Iginla had a much better contest, scoring twice and was robbed of the hat-trick by a post. His defensive zone coverage on the 3rd Colorado goal left something to be desired, but...
- Stephane Yelle. Was also robbed by the post in the early going. Made a game-saving play in the last 2 minutes to draw a penalty and negate a Colorado PP.
- Chris Simon. Very effective in the offensive zone. Great pass to set-up the GWG.
Negatives:
- Nearly collapse under the weight of a 3 goal lead. Still lacking killer instinct.
- Dion Phaneuf. A less than stellar night for the rookie. Nearly made a fatal error in the late 3rd, but was saved by the PK heroics of Yelle.
- Officiating. 2 Holding-the-stick calls lead to 2 Av's goals. First was a non-call which was missed. Perpetrated by Tanguay on Ference (lead to Sakic goal). Second was a nominal call against Nilson (Avs score on PP). It's inconsistency like this that drives people crazy. Even Sutter was yelling at the refs last night.
Next up - The Flames look to extend the Oiler's woes on Thursday...
That might be the only way to describe the Flames offensive "outburst" against the Avs last night. Four goals ain't much to many teams, but it's a vertiable avalanche (ironic pun intended) of offense for the Flames. Consider that Calgary also had a potential goal waved off as well as 3 posts on the night and that means that the Flames came within a hair of nearly doubling their post-Olympic offensive production last night. Whew. Now we have to find ways to keep it going...
Of course, Calgary did manage to find a way to turn a potential blow-out victory into a one goal cardiac arrest (as usual). Posts and non-goals aside, The Flame's 3rd period pseudo-collapse can be forgiven because:
1.) They still won the game
2.) The avalanche have a very good first line
3.) The refs sucked
Nice to see players like Huselius, Leopold and Iginla look genuinely DANGEROUS in the offensive zone again. Not to mention the continued improvement of Chris Simon. Part of that is probably due to Sutter playing him with fast, water-bug like players such as Kobasew and Lombardi...a cunning strategem to be sure! Let's hope all four of these players continue to play like this more or less consistently for the rest of the year...
On a "salt-in-the-wound" kind of note, Vancouver lost their 4th straight last night. Baha.
Positives:
- Finally find a way to score. PLEASE KEEP DOING THIS.
- Iginla had a much better contest, scoring twice and was robbed of the hat-trick by a post. His defensive zone coverage on the 3rd Colorado goal left something to be desired, but...
- Stephane Yelle. Was also robbed by the post in the early going. Made a game-saving play in the last 2 minutes to draw a penalty and negate a Colorado PP.
- Chris Simon. Very effective in the offensive zone. Great pass to set-up the GWG.
Negatives:
- Nearly collapse under the weight of a 3 goal lead. Still lacking killer instinct.
- Dion Phaneuf. A less than stellar night for the rookie. Nearly made a fatal error in the late 3rd, but was saved by the PK heroics of Yelle.
- Officiating. 2 Holding-the-stick calls lead to 2 Av's goals. First was a non-call which was missed. Perpetrated by Tanguay on Ference (lead to Sakic goal). Second was a nominal call against Nilson (Avs score on PP). It's inconsistency like this that drives people crazy. Even Sutter was yelling at the refs last night.
Next up - The Flames look to extend the Oiler's woes on Thursday...
Monday, March 13, 2006
First Career Shut-out!
...If I hear that at the conclusion of another Flames game this year, Im gonna puke.
Anyways, Sunday afternoon's loss was another round of "make the back-up look like a superstar". Munro. Shaeffer. Budaj. Im sure there have been other no-name tenders who have stumped the Flames this year, I just can't think of them presently.
An image occured to me during the hair-pulling frustration of watching Calgary flub chance after chance yesterday:
picture a big, rustic barn in a quaint, idyllic country setting. The barn has a person-sized goalie rendered crudely on the side of it. Set-up 15 feet in front of the barn is the entire collection of Flames forwards. The Flames take turns firing pucks at the barn, most of them missing it completely. The noble few that manage to tag the barn hit the illustrated goalie. In the chest.
Absurd hyperbole aside, Calgary's offense since the Olympic break has fallen from "Impotent" to "Eunuch". Nine goals for in 6 games. That's an average of 1.5 GPG. Consider that Derek Roy (Buffalo's 2nd year, 3rd line center) has scored 7 goals since the Olympic break...wow.
Im at a loss to diagnose these woes. The Flames generate quality scoring chances but invariably whiff on them. Previously, Calgary could at least count on Iginla converting one or two those (and hope vainly someone else would join him on the scoresheet). But this season even that is a rare occurance.
The cure? Unknown. What can you do to a team that is suffering scoring slump en masse? the "shake-up through a trade" is no longer an option. Unless Lundmark steps into the line-up tonight and plays like Olli Jokinen (ha!), I can't forsee Calgary's struggles in their opponents zone ending any time soon...
Positives:
- Miika Kiprusoff. Despite allowing 3 goals and losing, was still stellar in net. Robbed Milan Hejduk numerous times.
- Edmonton loses again. Hey...I need to fill this space somehow.
Negatives:
- Lose to Colorado again and fall out of first in the NW division.
- Blanked by another back-up.
- 1 goal for in the last 2 games. From a deflection.
- Undisciplined. Another game where the Flames take 3+ penalties in a row. PK can't bail them out this time.
- Bonehead team defense. In contrast to the game against Dallas, the Flames frequently looked confused in their own end. weak clearing attempts and soft passes were exacerbated by poor coverage down low. Not to mention questionable decision making at the Colorado blueline.
- Jordan Leopold. One of his worst games this season. Caused the first goal by running around in his own end. gave the puck up to Hejduk in the slot late in the second and was saved by Kipper.
- Flames forwards. Score about as much as the 98 pound weakling in high school. Has gone from frustrating to laughable.
- Jarome Iginla. *shrug*
Calgary has a chance to turn it around against Colorado today. However, given their previous 2 meetings against the Avalanche, Im not terribly optimistic.
Prove me wrong Flames! Prove me wrong.
Anyways, Sunday afternoon's loss was another round of "make the back-up look like a superstar". Munro. Shaeffer. Budaj. Im sure there have been other no-name tenders who have stumped the Flames this year, I just can't think of them presently.
An image occured to me during the hair-pulling frustration of watching Calgary flub chance after chance yesterday:
picture a big, rustic barn in a quaint, idyllic country setting. The barn has a person-sized goalie rendered crudely on the side of it. Set-up 15 feet in front of the barn is the entire collection of Flames forwards. The Flames take turns firing pucks at the barn, most of them missing it completely. The noble few that manage to tag the barn hit the illustrated goalie. In the chest.
Absurd hyperbole aside, Calgary's offense since the Olympic break has fallen from "Impotent" to "Eunuch". Nine goals for in 6 games. That's an average of 1.5 GPG. Consider that Derek Roy (Buffalo's 2nd year, 3rd line center) has scored 7 goals since the Olympic break...wow.
Im at a loss to diagnose these woes. The Flames generate quality scoring chances but invariably whiff on them. Previously, Calgary could at least count on Iginla converting one or two those (and hope vainly someone else would join him on the scoresheet). But this season even that is a rare occurance.
The cure? Unknown. What can you do to a team that is suffering scoring slump en masse? the "shake-up through a trade" is no longer an option. Unless Lundmark steps into the line-up tonight and plays like Olli Jokinen (ha!), I can't forsee Calgary's struggles in their opponents zone ending any time soon...
Positives:
- Miika Kiprusoff. Despite allowing 3 goals and losing, was still stellar in net. Robbed Milan Hejduk numerous times.
- Edmonton loses again. Hey...I need to fill this space somehow.
Negatives:
- Lose to Colorado again and fall out of first in the NW division.
- Blanked by another back-up.
- 1 goal for in the last 2 games. From a deflection.
- Undisciplined. Another game where the Flames take 3+ penalties in a row. PK can't bail them out this time.
- Bonehead team defense. In contrast to the game against Dallas, the Flames frequently looked confused in their own end. weak clearing attempts and soft passes were exacerbated by poor coverage down low. Not to mention questionable decision making at the Colorado blueline.
- Jordan Leopold. One of his worst games this season. Caused the first goal by running around in his own end. gave the puck up to Hejduk in the slot late in the second and was saved by Kipper.
- Flames forwards. Score about as much as the 98 pound weakling in high school. Has gone from frustrating to laughable.
- Jarome Iginla. *shrug*
Calgary has a chance to turn it around against Colorado today. However, given their previous 2 meetings against the Avalanche, Im not terribly optimistic.
Prove me wrong Flames! Prove me wrong.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Boy the ol' Blog's acting weird today...
anyhoo, Im not going to say too much about the win last night. Still great defensively, still can't score. Yup.
On the "ironic" side of the ledger, both Edmonton and Vancouver lost last night, despite making the bigger splashes at the deadline. To be fair, neither had all (in the Canuck's case, any) of their additions yet, but...I'll take what I can get. In the Oiler's case, the entire team seemed to sigh and relax to detrimental degrees with the acquisition of Roloson. I didn't see it, but I heard that the loss to the Sharks last night was one of their worst defensively-played games of the season. Woops! Welcome to Edmonton!
Positives:
- Edmonton and Vancouver lose.
- Kiprusoff makes 39(!) saves for his 8th shut-out. Leads league and sets Flames franchise record.
- Perfect PK. Calgary was down 2 men twice in the contest and still came out sterling. Haven't surrendered a PP goal against since the Olympic break!
Negatives:
- Taking too many penalties. With our inability to score, Calgary is playing it dangerously with their lack of discipline. The PK won't be perfect forever.
- Powerplay. While this has been more than decent for awhile, it was abysmal last night. 0 goals and nary a scoring chance in sight.
- Lack of finish. That's right, I'll keep mentioning it. The Flames garnered some decent chances - three 2on1's for instance - and just couldn't close the deal (as usual).
- Jarome Iginla. Another rather Pedestrian performance by Iggy. Not bad, but nothing beyond merely adequate.
Next up - Colorado!
anyhoo, Im not going to say too much about the win last night. Still great defensively, still can't score. Yup.
On the "ironic" side of the ledger, both Edmonton and Vancouver lost last night, despite making the bigger splashes at the deadline. To be fair, neither had all (in the Canuck's case, any) of their additions yet, but...I'll take what I can get. In the Oiler's case, the entire team seemed to sigh and relax to detrimental degrees with the acquisition of Roloson. I didn't see it, but I heard that the loss to the Sharks last night was one of their worst defensively-played games of the season. Woops! Welcome to Edmonton!
Positives:
- Edmonton and Vancouver lose.
- Kiprusoff makes 39(!) saves for his 8th shut-out. Leads league and sets Flames franchise record.
- Perfect PK. Calgary was down 2 men twice in the contest and still came out sterling. Haven't surrendered a PP goal against since the Olympic break!
Negatives:
- Taking too many penalties. With our inability to score, Calgary is playing it dangerously with their lack of discipline. The PK won't be perfect forever.
- Powerplay. While this has been more than decent for awhile, it was abysmal last night. 0 goals and nary a scoring chance in sight.
- Lack of finish. That's right, I'll keep mentioning it. The Flames garnered some decent chances - three 2on1's for instance - and just couldn't close the deal (as usual).
- Jarome Iginla. Another rather Pedestrian performance by Iggy. Not bad, but nothing beyond merely adequate.
Next up - Colorado!
They'd Be Crazy Not To!
In the mood for a laugh? Check out this article coming out of Leaf Land post-trade-deadline.
Crazy indeed.
Crazy indeed.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Calgary Lands a Center!! (And Other Stuff)
Sort of. So let's deal with Calgary's minor move...just to get it out of the way:
- Flames acquire Edmonton born Jamie Lundmark from Phoenix for a draft choice (probably 4th rounder or so).
Lundmark is a former 1st round centerman (9th overall by the Rangers in 1999) who has never fulfilled his potential. This is his third season in the NHL since being drafted and he is on pace for a career year - which isn't difficult, since his top point total previously was 19. This year he's already "amassed" 19 points, 6 of them being goals.
His stats and bio are listed here. TSN notes that he's fast and has a well-rounded game and a goal-scoring "upside" (which no one has been able to really tap yet). He also seems to be adept in the face-off circle, which is nice. His weaknesses are lack of physical strength and consistency.
Overall, Lundmark sounds like a slightly older Lombardi in many ways. I like Lombardi. But another Lombardi is certainly not what the Flames needed at this point. All this looks to be is another player who will be fighting to play on Calgary's already choked 3rd and 4th lines. Currently, the Flames roster (at center) looks like this:
Langkow, Lombardi, Yelle, Lundmark, Wiemer, Ritchie (Nilson).
That's a couple of 2nd line centers and a whole lot of 3rd and 4th line centers (and 0 first line centers). Lundmark's a former 1st round daft pick, so perhaps the potential is there - but that can be said of lots of players. Didn't Alexander Daigle just get waived...?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess you can tell I don't think that the Flames did anything of note to address their goalscoring issues. If Lombardi and Kobasew don't score much here, neither will the underachieving Lundmark. As disappointing as Sutter's lack of activity at the deadline was, it's also comforting for current (and future) Flames fans to know that Darryl didn't mortgage Calgary's future for a quick-fix. The Flames held onto all of their quality blueline depth and almost all of their prospects and draft picks. Of course, certain trade-deadline questions will dog Sutter if Calgary happens to bow out of the play-offs early thanks to their lack of scoring...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In related news, the NW Division race will get even tighter now, given the numerous acquisitions by Vancouver and Edmonton. Vancouver managed to add 3 solid d-men (Weinrich, Carney, Brown) and a highly touted back-up goaltender. I admit, I was fairly impressed with the moves Nonis made today. He surrendered only a single, nominal roster player (McCarty), while shoring up the Canuck's major weaknesses. Once the Canucks get Salo, Ohlund and Jovo back in the line-up, they look to have a much more impressive d-corps:
Jovo-Ohlund
Carney-Salo
Weinrich-Allen
In addition, the Oilers made a splash by moving Reasoner + pick&prospect for pending UFA Sergei Samsonov.
Assuming Samsonov remains healthy for the remainder of the season, this is a move that certainly improves the Oil right now. Fast and slick, Samsonov will fit well with the Greaser's #1 line and gameplan. The only question remains (beyond his health) is whether he will re-sign with Edmonton next year. If not, this seems like a high price for a rental player.
Anyways, those are my thoughts for now. As for the game tonight, I pretty much expect Calgary to lose - we almost never beat Dallas. I can't remember the last time we did. At least we'll be facing Petr Budaj in the Colorado nets pretty soon...
- Flames acquire Edmonton born Jamie Lundmark from Phoenix for a draft choice (probably 4th rounder or so).
Lundmark is a former 1st round centerman (9th overall by the Rangers in 1999) who has never fulfilled his potential. This is his third season in the NHL since being drafted and he is on pace for a career year - which isn't difficult, since his top point total previously was 19. This year he's already "amassed" 19 points, 6 of them being goals.
His stats and bio are listed here. TSN notes that he's fast and has a well-rounded game and a goal-scoring "upside" (which no one has been able to really tap yet). He also seems to be adept in the face-off circle, which is nice. His weaknesses are lack of physical strength and consistency.
Overall, Lundmark sounds like a slightly older Lombardi in many ways. I like Lombardi. But another Lombardi is certainly not what the Flames needed at this point. All this looks to be is another player who will be fighting to play on Calgary's already choked 3rd and 4th lines. Currently, the Flames roster (at center) looks like this:
Langkow, Lombardi, Yelle, Lundmark, Wiemer, Ritchie (Nilson).
That's a couple of 2nd line centers and a whole lot of 3rd and 4th line centers (and 0 first line centers). Lundmark's a former 1st round daft pick, so perhaps the potential is there - but that can be said of lots of players. Didn't Alexander Daigle just get waived...?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess you can tell I don't think that the Flames did anything of note to address their goalscoring issues. If Lombardi and Kobasew don't score much here, neither will the underachieving Lundmark. As disappointing as Sutter's lack of activity at the deadline was, it's also comforting for current (and future) Flames fans to know that Darryl didn't mortgage Calgary's future for a quick-fix. The Flames held onto all of their quality blueline depth and almost all of their prospects and draft picks. Of course, certain trade-deadline questions will dog Sutter if Calgary happens to bow out of the play-offs early thanks to their lack of scoring...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In related news, the NW Division race will get even tighter now, given the numerous acquisitions by Vancouver and Edmonton. Vancouver managed to add 3 solid d-men (Weinrich, Carney, Brown) and a highly touted back-up goaltender. I admit, I was fairly impressed with the moves Nonis made today. He surrendered only a single, nominal roster player (McCarty), while shoring up the Canuck's major weaknesses. Once the Canucks get Salo, Ohlund and Jovo back in the line-up, they look to have a much more impressive d-corps:
Jovo-Ohlund
Carney-Salo
Weinrich-Allen
In addition, the Oilers made a splash by moving Reasoner + pick&prospect for pending UFA Sergei Samsonov.
Assuming Samsonov remains healthy for the remainder of the season, this is a move that certainly improves the Oil right now. Fast and slick, Samsonov will fit well with the Greaser's #1 line and gameplan. The only question remains (beyond his health) is whether he will re-sign with Edmonton next year. If not, this seems like a high price for a rental player.
Anyways, those are my thoughts for now. As for the game tonight, I pretty much expect Calgary to lose - we almost never beat Dallas. I can't remember the last time we did. At least we'll be facing Petr Budaj in the Colorado nets pretty soon...
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
First Drops of the Storm
The minor trades are starting to trickle in now. Two of particular interest to me are:
Leafs acquire Luke Richardson from Columbus. Okay...what is JFJ thinking? This looks like classic Leafs mismanagement on the face of it. Consider:
- Richardson is 36 years old and a pending UFA. He is slow and offensively lacking (check out his stats this year). These are none of the things the Maple Leafs need now or later. Richardson isn't going to compliment a push for the play-offs and he's basically going to take up a roster spot which should belong to a younger player IF the Leafs (for whatever reason) decide to re-sign him next year. Is one Belak never enough?
- The Leafs give up a 5th round pick and ANOTHER conditional pick if they sign Richardson in the off-season. All this for a rapidly declining, defensive-type-defenesman in the last year of his contract. DUH.
- This is the team that released a very, very similar player in Bryan Marchment at the start of the year. Baffling.
On a more personal/homer note, the New York Rangers traded Ville Nieminen to the San Jose Sharks for a third round pick. A small, secret part of me was hoping Nieminen would somehow make it back into Flame colors come springtime, though I knew that was a long-shot. Oh well. Best wishes to "the Joker" in his new surroundings.
Leafs acquire Luke Richardson from Columbus. Okay...what is JFJ thinking? This looks like classic Leafs mismanagement on the face of it. Consider:
- Richardson is 36 years old and a pending UFA. He is slow and offensively lacking (check out his stats this year). These are none of the things the Maple Leafs need now or later. Richardson isn't going to compliment a push for the play-offs and he's basically going to take up a roster spot which should belong to a younger player IF the Leafs (for whatever reason) decide to re-sign him next year. Is one Belak never enough?
- The Leafs give up a 5th round pick and ANOTHER conditional pick if they sign Richardson in the off-season. All this for a rapidly declining, defensive-type-defenesman in the last year of his contract. DUH.
- This is the team that released a very, very similar player in Bryan Marchment at the start of the year. Baffling.
On a more personal/homer note, the New York Rangers traded Ville Nieminen to the San Jose Sharks for a third round pick. A small, secret part of me was hoping Nieminen would somehow make it back into Flame colors come springtime, though I knew that was a long-shot. Oh well. Best wishes to "the Joker" in his new surroundings.
Catch-up and the Deadline
I've been sidlined by a stomach virus for the last 3 days or so, thus the total lack of posts. Let's catch up then...
- Calgary beats San Jose 2-0. Kipper is stellar, Iggy comes through in the clutch. Excellent game all around.
- Calgary loses to Nashville 3-2. The Preds have the Flames number this year. They've won the last 4 meetings between the 2 teams. Didn't see the game, but I heard Calgary played relatively well. Had a (Leopold) goal called back on a too-many-men penalty and gave up a short-hander which turned out to be the winner. Some typical culprits in the loss: Lack of offence, Ference -3, etc.
Now the Flames head into the trade deadline 3rd in West but still desperately seeking offense. Some recent comments by Sutter in the local media suggests that he won't be making any moves - but most people interpret that to Sutter being coy and holding his cards close to his chest. Even with his defense-first philosophy, Sutter knows that his team should (rather, needs to) improve their scoring and finish. Awash in defensemen, the Flames may make a bold deal to land that elusive #1 centerman by moving a Leopold or Ference. Or, and what is more likely, Sutter may decide to add supplemental pieces to his puzzle - say, a Jeff Friesen or a Ryan Malone - like he did previously with deadline additions Chris Simon and Marcus Nilson. Either way, stay tuned - it should be interesting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
On the "first significant trade" front, Edmonton dealt away their #1 draft choice next year for Minny back-up Dwayne Roloson. The deal includes an additional 3rd-rounder should Rolo sign with the Oilers in the off-season.
Gotta say, a first rounder for a 36 year old potential UFA having a very off-season seems like a bit much. I guess it's an indication of what other teams, like Buffalo, were asking in return for their goaltenders. Im also fairly surprised that the Wild would entertain a trading partner whom they are chasing for the last playoff spot in the West. Do they know something about Roloson that Edmonton doesn't? Or do they value more the certainty of another #1 draft pick next year to the mere possibility of a play-off entrance this year? Perhaps, now that they have 2 first rounders, the Wild can deal picks to strengthen their scoring around Gaborik and Rolston? Hmmm...
Overall though, the truth of the matter is that Roloson is a better option than any of the 'tenders currently making up the Oiler's 3-headed goalie monster. This deal DOES shore up the Oiler's leaky crease situation. To what degree and for how long are now the questions facing them...
- Calgary beats San Jose 2-0. Kipper is stellar, Iggy comes through in the clutch. Excellent game all around.
- Calgary loses to Nashville 3-2. The Preds have the Flames number this year. They've won the last 4 meetings between the 2 teams. Didn't see the game, but I heard Calgary played relatively well. Had a (Leopold) goal called back on a too-many-men penalty and gave up a short-hander which turned out to be the winner. Some typical culprits in the loss: Lack of offence, Ference -3, etc.
Now the Flames head into the trade deadline 3rd in West but still desperately seeking offense. Some recent comments by Sutter in the local media suggests that he won't be making any moves - but most people interpret that to Sutter being coy and holding his cards close to his chest. Even with his defense-first philosophy, Sutter knows that his team should (rather, needs to) improve their scoring and finish. Awash in defensemen, the Flames may make a bold deal to land that elusive #1 centerman by moving a Leopold or Ference. Or, and what is more likely, Sutter may decide to add supplemental pieces to his puzzle - say, a Jeff Friesen or a Ryan Malone - like he did previously with deadline additions Chris Simon and Marcus Nilson. Either way, stay tuned - it should be interesting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
On the "first significant trade" front, Edmonton dealt away their #1 draft choice next year for Minny back-up Dwayne Roloson. The deal includes an additional 3rd-rounder should Rolo sign with the Oilers in the off-season.
Gotta say, a first rounder for a 36 year old potential UFA having a very off-season seems like a bit much. I guess it's an indication of what other teams, like Buffalo, were asking in return for their goaltenders. Im also fairly surprised that the Wild would entertain a trading partner whom they are chasing for the last playoff spot in the West. Do they know something about Roloson that Edmonton doesn't? Or do they value more the certainty of another #1 draft pick next year to the mere possibility of a play-off entrance this year? Perhaps, now that they have 2 first rounders, the Wild can deal picks to strengthen their scoring around Gaborik and Rolston? Hmmm...
Overall though, the truth of the matter is that Roloson is a better option than any of the 'tenders currently making up the Oiler's 3-headed goalie monster. This deal DOES shore up the Oiler's leaky crease situation. To what degree and for how long are now the questions facing them...
Friday, March 03, 2006
Mo Better Blues
Last entry I declared that I would be satisfied with the Flames play if:
Flames forwards scored (more than 2).
Iginla played well, and...
Ference and Warrener didn't screw up big.
Seeing that Flames forwards actually managed 3 goals (wonder of wonders) and two of them were by Iginla, I can safely say Im satisfied. Add the fact that Ference and Warrener weren't on the ice for the GWG against and that makes it nearly a total sweep of my high expectations.
Yes, the game went pretty well. How much of that had to do with the Blues being tired (as well as undermanned) can't really be determined. Considering that the Flames typically don't take advantage of such circumstances leads me to believe it was, at least a little, thanks to a decent Calgary effort. The Flames actually managed to generate quality scoring chances for a large portion of the game to compliment their stingy defensive effort. The result was never really in doubt, 3rd period goals and 2 goal-lead curses aside.
My only minor complaint is an old one - no killer instinct. Multiple early powerplays and odd-man rushes and the Flames only lead by 2 (where they could have been leading by 5) after the second. Is it really too much to ask for one (1!) blow-out this year?? Oh well. A win is a win.
On another note, and perhaps this is my Flames bias talking, but the officiating last night was nothing short of terrible. Calgary had 5 powerplays, the last of which came at the start of the 2nd period. The Blues were granted 7 powerplays (even though they were clearly tired, outplayed and outclassed most of the night), half the time on trivial or phantom calls. In the third period the difference was especially blatant - the Blues were hooking and interfering with any Calgary player that crossed their blueline without reprecussion. The Flames were called on anything that appeared to be akin to interference. In fact, the Blues were granted 6 straight powerplays after Calgary went up 2-0. It was quite the outburst of dubious officiating. Oh well. We still won I guess...
Positives:
- Finally win a "should-win" game. Reclaim NW division lead.
- Penalty Killing. Killed off all 7 penalties against.
- Jordan Leopold. I dont know if he's making a bid to remain a Flame or not, but Leo had his best game of the season. 4 hits and 5 shots, he was all over the ice at both ends. Came within inches of finally scoring.
- Jarome Iginla. Two goals, including the game winner, and a fight. Iginla was finally the first star of a game and he deserved it.
- Mike Leclerc. Im still not sold on him being on the first line, but he did some good work last night. Set-up both of Iginla's goals.
- Miika Kiprusoff. Solid again. First goalie to win 30 games this year.
- Cale Hulse. Nothing fancy and will be maligned for getting 3 penalties (2 of which were borderline calls, at best). Seemed solid enough and looks to be an excellent depth pick-up.
- Tony Amonte. Tenacious on the forecheck and penalty-kill.
- Beetlejuice. Nothing on the scoresheet for Hussy, but he still looks crafty and dangerous out there. hit another post last night.
Negatives:
- Allow the Blues to stay in it till the end, despite outplaying them badly.
- Officiating. Yikes. One of the worst so far this year.
- Another injury. PK warrior Yelle was felled while blocking a shot. No word on the extent of the injury yet.
Next up - Saturday Night Sharks.
Flames forwards scored (more than 2).
Iginla played well, and...
Ference and Warrener didn't screw up big.
Seeing that Flames forwards actually managed 3 goals (wonder of wonders) and two of them were by Iginla, I can safely say Im satisfied. Add the fact that Ference and Warrener weren't on the ice for the GWG against and that makes it nearly a total sweep of my high expectations.
Yes, the game went pretty well. How much of that had to do with the Blues being tired (as well as undermanned) can't really be determined. Considering that the Flames typically don't take advantage of such circumstances leads me to believe it was, at least a little, thanks to a decent Calgary effort. The Flames actually managed to generate quality scoring chances for a large portion of the game to compliment their stingy defensive effort. The result was never really in doubt, 3rd period goals and 2 goal-lead curses aside.
My only minor complaint is an old one - no killer instinct. Multiple early powerplays and odd-man rushes and the Flames only lead by 2 (where they could have been leading by 5) after the second. Is it really too much to ask for one (1!) blow-out this year?? Oh well. A win is a win.
On another note, and perhaps this is my Flames bias talking, but the officiating last night was nothing short of terrible. Calgary had 5 powerplays, the last of which came at the start of the 2nd period. The Blues were granted 7 powerplays (even though they were clearly tired, outplayed and outclassed most of the night), half the time on trivial or phantom calls. In the third period the difference was especially blatant - the Blues were hooking and interfering with any Calgary player that crossed their blueline without reprecussion. The Flames were called on anything that appeared to be akin to interference. In fact, the Blues were granted 6 straight powerplays after Calgary went up 2-0. It was quite the outburst of dubious officiating. Oh well. We still won I guess...
Positives:
- Finally win a "should-win" game. Reclaim NW division lead.
- Penalty Killing. Killed off all 7 penalties against.
- Jordan Leopold. I dont know if he's making a bid to remain a Flame or not, but Leo had his best game of the season. 4 hits and 5 shots, he was all over the ice at both ends. Came within inches of finally scoring.
- Jarome Iginla. Two goals, including the game winner, and a fight. Iginla was finally the first star of a game and he deserved it.
- Mike Leclerc. Im still not sold on him being on the first line, but he did some good work last night. Set-up both of Iginla's goals.
- Miika Kiprusoff. Solid again. First goalie to win 30 games this year.
- Cale Hulse. Nothing fancy and will be maligned for getting 3 penalties (2 of which were borderline calls, at best). Seemed solid enough and looks to be an excellent depth pick-up.
- Tony Amonte. Tenacious on the forecheck and penalty-kill.
- Beetlejuice. Nothing on the scoresheet for Hussy, but he still looks crafty and dangerous out there. hit another post last night.
Negatives:
- Allow the Blues to stay in it till the end, despite outplaying them badly.
- Officiating. Yikes. One of the worst so far this year.
- Another injury. PK warrior Yelle was felled while blocking a shot. No word on the extent of the injury yet.
Next up - Saturday Night Sharks.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Some Blues and Some Concern
Some Blues -
St. Louis is in town tonight to face the Flames. I don't have to say Im worried about this game. And Im certainly not going to say Calgary should WIN this game. That never seems to happen in these circumstances. So, basically, what Im hoping for is one of three good things to happen:
- The Flames forwards score some goals (more than 2) en route to the end result (be it win or loss).
- Ference and Warrener don't screw up royally.
- Jarome Iginla plays well. Not relative to any old player well. Jarome plays well for JAROME.
I figure if any of the above happen, I'll be somewhat satisfied with the outcome tonight. Moreso if it's a "W" of course...
Some Concern -
If the blog has tended toward negativity over the last little while, there's a reason; the Flames haven't been that good for awhile. Since January, Calgary has varied between very good to downright abysmal in equal measures. Blending equitible proportions of white and black typically yields grey.
And this case is no exception.
From January 1 up until now, the Flames have been nothing more and nothing less than mediocre. In 19 games played, Calgary has posted a 10-6-3 record (10-9, technically). They managed to score all of 49 goals in those 19 games, which is an average of about 2.58 GPG. Conversely, Calgary has allowed 44 goals against in that time for an average of about 2.32 GPG. Of course, the latter figure would be more than adequate if the former was appropriately higher.
Two of the 3 OTL suffered by the Flames over that time time period came against sub (SUB) 0.500 teams in St. Louis and Columbus. In addition, the Flames have recently managed to flub three straight games against their closest rivals, the Vancouver Canucks - including the most recent set-back that featured half of the Manitoba Moose. In addition, Calgary was embarassed (7-4) by another divisional rival, the Colorado Avalanche, in Philipe Sauve's last game as a Flame early in January. Two other uninspiring defeats came at the hands of the pitiful NY Islanders (3-2) and the woeful Chicago Blackhawks (2-0).
During February, the Flames managed to win two games convincingly against the Ducks and the Sharks and pull-out an overtime-powerplay-assisted squeeker against the Blues. Unfortunately, they also managed to lose two games convincingly to the Canucks and fall in a S/O squeeker against Columbus.
And that's the way it's gone the last 6 weeks or so. The Flames have been a mere "even-keel": they play three good games and then three bad games. An average game followed by a terrible game. A great game followed by an ugly game. Defeating top teams one night (Buffalo, 4-1 win) and falling to bottom-feeders the next (Chicago, 2-0 loss). The result is an average record despite being handed a schedule littered with "should-win" games against the leagues non-play-off contenders.
This certainly seems to be a team coasting on the inertia of their incredibly strong November and December performances. Since then, I've seen only fleeting evidence of the strong forecheck and the "will to win" that characterized this team last year (and for part of this year). I can't really speak to the cause of this recent bout of "meh" play, nor can I reasonably suggest that a trade at the upcoming deadline will make a difference. I can simply hope that the Flames turn it around, one way or the other, for the majority of this last push (and for the play-offs beyond)...
St. Louis is in town tonight to face the Flames. I don't have to say Im worried about this game. And Im certainly not going to say Calgary should WIN this game. That never seems to happen in these circumstances. So, basically, what Im hoping for is one of three good things to happen:
- The Flames forwards score some goals (more than 2) en route to the end result (be it win or loss).
- Ference and Warrener don't screw up royally.
- Jarome Iginla plays well. Not relative to any old player well. Jarome plays well for JAROME.
I figure if any of the above happen, I'll be somewhat satisfied with the outcome tonight. Moreso if it's a "W" of course...
Some Concern -
If the blog has tended toward negativity over the last little while, there's a reason; the Flames haven't been that good for awhile. Since January, Calgary has varied between very good to downright abysmal in equal measures. Blending equitible proportions of white and black typically yields grey.
And this case is no exception.
From January 1 up until now, the Flames have been nothing more and nothing less than mediocre. In 19 games played, Calgary has posted a 10-6-3 record (10-9, technically). They managed to score all of 49 goals in those 19 games, which is an average of about 2.58 GPG. Conversely, Calgary has allowed 44 goals against in that time for an average of about 2.32 GPG. Of course, the latter figure would be more than adequate if the former was appropriately higher.
Two of the 3 OTL suffered by the Flames over that time time period came against sub (SUB) 0.500 teams in St. Louis and Columbus. In addition, the Flames have recently managed to flub three straight games against their closest rivals, the Vancouver Canucks - including the most recent set-back that featured half of the Manitoba Moose. In addition, Calgary was embarassed (7-4) by another divisional rival, the Colorado Avalanche, in Philipe Sauve's last game as a Flame early in January. Two other uninspiring defeats came at the hands of the pitiful NY Islanders (3-2) and the woeful Chicago Blackhawks (2-0).
During February, the Flames managed to win two games convincingly against the Ducks and the Sharks and pull-out an overtime-powerplay-assisted squeeker against the Blues. Unfortunately, they also managed to lose two games convincingly to the Canucks and fall in a S/O squeeker against Columbus.
And that's the way it's gone the last 6 weeks or so. The Flames have been a mere "even-keel": they play three good games and then three bad games. An average game followed by a terrible game. A great game followed by an ugly game. Defeating top teams one night (Buffalo, 4-1 win) and falling to bottom-feeders the next (Chicago, 2-0 loss). The result is an average record despite being handed a schedule littered with "should-win" games against the leagues non-play-off contenders.
This certainly seems to be a team coasting on the inertia of their incredibly strong November and December performances. Since then, I've seen only fleeting evidence of the strong forecheck and the "will to win" that characterized this team last year (and for part of this year). I can't really speak to the cause of this recent bout of "meh" play, nor can I reasonably suggest that a trade at the upcoming deadline will make a difference. I can simply hope that the Flames turn it around, one way or the other, for the majority of this last push (and for the play-offs beyond)...
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
It's Time For Some Dead Horse Beatin'!
All the usual suspects were in attendance for Calgary's 2-1 loss against a tired and depleted Canucks team last night: lack of scoring, zero killer instinct, mediocre Jarome Iginla and absent secondary scoring. The result? Another loss where a win should be.
Yes, it's been a fairly familiar script this year. For one reason or another, the Flames simply do NOT show up against weaker opponents. The best strategy for opposition coaches and GM's to deploy against Calgary going forward would be to remove their top players and play their 3rd string goaltender. They'll almost be guaranteed a 2-1 or 3-2 victory.
What's the primary source of these woes? Considering that no Flame forward has scored a goal in the last 2 games (one of which was a victory) and the answer is clear: offense my dear. Offense.
At this point it's difficult to isolate one particular reason behind the Flame's continuing offensive impotence. And make no mistake about it - it IS impotence. Calgary currently sits 28th overall in the league in terms of goals for, with an average of 2.62. Only Columbus and Chicago are lower. Which means that Washington and even the St. Louis Blues score more than the Flames. That's right. The BLUES.
So...what is it? Let's ignore the continued mediocre play of Iginla for the moment -
Calgary gets precious little secondary scoring. 3rd and 4th liners Yelle, Nilson, Donovan, Simon and McCarty have scored 27 goals all year COMBINED. That's only 2 more than their struggling captain. Jordan Leopold hasn't scored in over 70 NHL contests. Even Matthew Lombardi has only managed 4 goals in 33 games this season. That means Calgary has 7 players, several of which that have modest to decent offensive talent, that have scored less goals together than 20 year old Alexander Ovechkin has scored for the horrendous Washington Capitals.
And it's not like Calgary is carried by their primary scoring either. After Iginla's 25 goals (which is a disappointment), the Flames have no one with more than 20. Amonte goes for long stretches without scoring. Langkow is relatively consistent at a goal every three games or so pace, which is decent but hardly enough to bank on. Kobasew is the picture of inconsistency - he scores 3 and then disappears from the scoresheet for 15 games. Huselius has been a pleasant surprise since we picked him up - but, like Langkow, he doesn't produce enough to make a difference every night. So, basically, Calgary has 3rd liners that produce like 4th liners (and benchwarmers) and 2nd and 1st liners that produce like 3rd liners. With the continued absence of Jarome, the Flames don't seem to have any sort of fear-inducing attack.
But Calgary has some offensive talent. It's there. But it's not being tapped. I've the sneeking suspision that the Flame's offensive lack is (at least partially) caused by systemic issues. The Flames almost never look like they know what they're doing in the opposition's end of the rink. They shoot the puck wide or into blocks more often than I can count. They're offensive systems often appear static and easily defended. There's almost never anyone in a dangerous scoring position in the slot - and if there is, the pass to him is invariably stuffed or into his skates. And the odd time a chance does rear it's head, the Flames seem so stunned by the rare occurance that they panic and flub the chance.
Of course, all of this is exacerbated by Jarome's struggles (you knew I'd have to pick this scab a little). After the Olympics I held little hope that the dominant Iggy that we knew would return. Last night's contest did little to ease my worries.
Like he has so many times this year, Iginla missed chances and disappeared for long stretches. In fact, Jarome was detrimental to the Flames come-back cause during the third last night - not only did he miss an open net (shot it wide), but he also took a lazy hooking penalty with about 4 minutes left. I guess the worst part about that is I wasn't at all surprised by it...
Positives and Negatives:
Positives:
- Dion Phaneuf. Fast, tough, impressive. Frequently the most noticable Flame on the ice.
- Robyn Regehr. Aside from his terrible decision to change in the second (lead to the Canucks first goal), had a solid night with a goal and some big hits.
- Huselius. shifty and dangerous at times. Was robbed of a goal by the post.
Negatives:
- Loss to a depleted and tired divisional opponent.
- Undisciplined. 29 minutes in penalties - many of them the stupid or lazy variety.
- Ference and Warrener. I don't know how frequently I have to mention this pairing or how often they are they are going to continue to make dumb decisions at critical times. Were the cause of the GWG against. Again.
- Jarome Iginla. Simply, startlingly, incredibly...average.
- 0 goals from Flames forwards in 2 games. Ridiculous.
- Zero killer instinct. Of course.
The bad news (which should be good news) is that we take on the St. Louis Blues next. My prediction heading into the game? Dion Phaneuf will be great.
Yes, it's been a fairly familiar script this year. For one reason or another, the Flames simply do NOT show up against weaker opponents. The best strategy for opposition coaches and GM's to deploy against Calgary going forward would be to remove their top players and play their 3rd string goaltender. They'll almost be guaranteed a 2-1 or 3-2 victory.
What's the primary source of these woes? Considering that no Flame forward has scored a goal in the last 2 games (one of which was a victory) and the answer is clear: offense my dear. Offense.
At this point it's difficult to isolate one particular reason behind the Flame's continuing offensive impotence. And make no mistake about it - it IS impotence. Calgary currently sits 28th overall in the league in terms of goals for, with an average of 2.62. Only Columbus and Chicago are lower. Which means that Washington and even the St. Louis Blues score more than the Flames. That's right. The BLUES.
So...what is it? Let's ignore the continued mediocre play of Iginla for the moment -
Calgary gets precious little secondary scoring. 3rd and 4th liners Yelle, Nilson, Donovan, Simon and McCarty have scored 27 goals all year COMBINED. That's only 2 more than their struggling captain. Jordan Leopold hasn't scored in over 70 NHL contests. Even Matthew Lombardi has only managed 4 goals in 33 games this season. That means Calgary has 7 players, several of which that have modest to decent offensive talent, that have scored less goals together than 20 year old Alexander Ovechkin has scored for the horrendous Washington Capitals.
And it's not like Calgary is carried by their primary scoring either. After Iginla's 25 goals (which is a disappointment), the Flames have no one with more than 20. Amonte goes for long stretches without scoring. Langkow is relatively consistent at a goal every three games or so pace, which is decent but hardly enough to bank on. Kobasew is the picture of inconsistency - he scores 3 and then disappears from the scoresheet for 15 games. Huselius has been a pleasant surprise since we picked him up - but, like Langkow, he doesn't produce enough to make a difference every night. So, basically, Calgary has 3rd liners that produce like 4th liners (and benchwarmers) and 2nd and 1st liners that produce like 3rd liners. With the continued absence of Jarome, the Flames don't seem to have any sort of fear-inducing attack.
But Calgary has some offensive talent. It's there. But it's not being tapped. I've the sneeking suspision that the Flame's offensive lack is (at least partially) caused by systemic issues. The Flames almost never look like they know what they're doing in the opposition's end of the rink. They shoot the puck wide or into blocks more often than I can count. They're offensive systems often appear static and easily defended. There's almost never anyone in a dangerous scoring position in the slot - and if there is, the pass to him is invariably stuffed or into his skates. And the odd time a chance does rear it's head, the Flames seem so stunned by the rare occurance that they panic and flub the chance.
Of course, all of this is exacerbated by Jarome's struggles (you knew I'd have to pick this scab a little). After the Olympics I held little hope that the dominant Iggy that we knew would return. Last night's contest did little to ease my worries.
Like he has so many times this year, Iginla missed chances and disappeared for long stretches. In fact, Jarome was detrimental to the Flames come-back cause during the third last night - not only did he miss an open net (shot it wide), but he also took a lazy hooking penalty with about 4 minutes left. I guess the worst part about that is I wasn't at all surprised by it...
Positives and Negatives:
Positives:
- Dion Phaneuf. Fast, tough, impressive. Frequently the most noticable Flame on the ice.
- Robyn Regehr. Aside from his terrible decision to change in the second (lead to the Canucks first goal), had a solid night with a goal and some big hits.
- Huselius. shifty and dangerous at times. Was robbed of a goal by the post.
Negatives:
- Loss to a depleted and tired divisional opponent.
- Undisciplined. 29 minutes in penalties - many of them the stupid or lazy variety.
- Ference and Warrener. I don't know how frequently I have to mention this pairing or how often they are they are going to continue to make dumb decisions at critical times. Were the cause of the GWG against. Again.
- Jarome Iginla. Simply, startlingly, incredibly...average.
- 0 goals from Flames forwards in 2 games. Ridiculous.
- Zero killer instinct. Of course.
The bad news (which should be good news) is that we take on the St. Louis Blues next. My prediction heading into the game? Dion Phaneuf will be great.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)