Flames wins are not as
convincing as their losses
fans and coach lament
Feel free to add your own!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Flames @ Vancower Preview
First, let's get my reaction to last night's gut punch loss out of the way -
FUCKALSKDALSDKFJNUPTHESDLKFGJNDSDARKAREALWITHAKDFGKNDGOLFCLUB!!
Anyways, that said, the Flames have a chance to make it alright tonight by beating the suddenly terrible Vancouver Canucks (by suddenly, I of course mean "consistently and forever*").
If anyone is looking to harass some unfortunate 'Nucks fans, take a spin over to Waiting for Stanley where frequent BofA commenter and actually sort-of-alright-Vancouver follower temujin will apparently be live-blogging tonight's match. Go for the insulting game day graphic. Stay for the gloating.
Prediction - Alex Burrows acts like a douchebag.
*PS - I assume everyone's heard that Big Bert is now suing Crawford with the "he made me gone and dun it!" offense, re: the Moore incident. I know it's been said before but it bears repeating: what a despicable reptile Bertuzzi is.
FUCKALSKDALSDKFJNUPTHESDLKFGJNDSDARKAREALWITHAKDFGKNDGOLFCLUB!!
Anyways, that said, the Flames have a chance to make it alright tonight by beating the suddenly terrible Vancouver Canucks (by suddenly, I of course mean "consistently and forever*").
If anyone is looking to harass some unfortunate 'Nucks fans, take a spin over to Waiting for Stanley where frequent BofA commenter and actually sort-of-alright-Vancouver follower temujin will apparently be live-blogging tonight's match. Go for the insulting game day graphic. Stay for the gloating.
Prediction - Alex Burrows acts like a douchebag.
*PS - I assume everyone's heard that Big Bert is now suing Crawford with the "he made me gone and dun it!" offense, re: the Moore incident. I know it's been said before but it bears repeating: what a despicable reptile Bertuzzi is.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Oil @ Flames Pregame
Biggest game of the year, yes? The Flames are tied with Colorado, behind Minnesota by 3 and have 2 games in hand on both. And, last but certainly not least, Calgary can put the stake in the heart of the Oilers play-off drive once and for all. I mean, cheering for Edmonton the last few days has been fun, don't get me wrong (*ralph*), but there's nothing quite as enjoyable as delivering a fatal blow to Edmonton fans hopes and dreams.
Im not going to say too much about the Oil, since there's a litany of more insightful resources in the blogroll. As for the Flames, no one knows if Juice will be back in tonight or not. I assume Keenan will stick with what's worked recently, meaning expect the same line-up as last game (meaning more of Eriksson bobbling pucks at the offensive blueline. Serenity now!).
Prediction - Iggy puts the Oilers out of their misery while Phaneuf causes mass anger- related aneurysms in and around Northern Alberta with his antics.
Go Flames.
Im not going to say too much about the Oil, since there's a litany of more insightful resources in the blogroll. As for the Flames, no one knows if Juice will be back in tonight or not. I assume Keenan will stick with what's worked recently, meaning expect the same line-up as last game (meaning more of Eriksson bobbling pucks at the offensive blueline. Serenity now!).
Prediction - Iggy puts the Oilers out of their misery while Phaneuf causes mass anger- related aneurysms in and around Northern Alberta with his antics.
Go Flames.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Leap
There are rumblings that Phaneuf is in the running for the Norris trophy this year. And while I still think such considerations are bit pre-mature, they are certainly a good deal less absurd than they were during his rookie season. Which is really all we can ask for from a 22 year-old kid.
Why even consider him?
Besides the obvious stuff (17 goals, 57 points, +11), here are some of Dion's advanced stats:
0.93 ESP/60, 2.85 GF/60 and 2.36 GA/60.
The most encouraging number for Flames fans is the last one. I wrote in the summer that getting scored on (ie: pure defense) was the main area of concern in Phaneuf's game, and he's improved by 0.65 goals against per hour over last season (3.01 GA/60). While he still doesn't see the toughest match-ups (that's reserved for Reggie), Dion has clearly taken a step forward in this area, particularly considering the quality of his partners this year versus last (Eriksson/Aucoin versus Hammer/Regehr) and the quality of goaltending behind him versus last year*.
*(I don't know Kippers SV% with Dion on the ice this year...Im assuming Miikka's relatively lackluster numbers apply, but that may not be the case as goalie's SV% can often fluctuate depending on who's skating in front of them. Sometimes it's the play of the skaters in question and sometimes its luck).
Something else brought by James Mirtle recently was Phaneuf's ability to draw penalties: his 1.4 PD/60 is the best in the league among regular defensemen right now. Course, part of that is his speed and strength on his skates...and part of that is his...uh..."aggravating disposition". Now, if he could just take a few less penalties himself (1.5/60)...
Some of this Norris hype has less to do with numbers and more to do with how he looks on the ice: since his contract extension, Phaneuf has simply looked dominant for long stretches. He's done things that aren't merely highlight material, but that simply can't be done by any other defender on the team. Many people remember the end-to-end rush against the Wild or the GWG blast over Luongo's shoulder, but there have been other, less pronounced but equally impressive feats recently.
For example, there was a particular series of events against the Canucks the other night that stood out to me. On the play, the Flames had Vancouver pinned inside their zone for a good span of time. Eventually, the puck was worked up to the blueline where Phaneuf managed to jam it against the boards. He was set upon by more than one Canuck for several seconds and they simply COULD NOT force him to relinquish possession...
So the puck stayed in the zone and more pressure ensued. Eventually, the Canucks managed to work it back up near the blueline again, and this time it seemed a certainty to exit the zone. In fact, most of the Vancouver players and half the Flames players were flying into neutral ice in anticipation of the transition.
The Vancouver skater with the puck approached his blueline, seemingly unchallenged. Before he could skate it out, however, Phaneuf entered the picture (he hadn't even been on screen), swept the guy aside like he was a plastic grocery bag, grabbed the puck off his stick, and passed it to a suddenly very alone Alex Tanguay. The result was a high quality scoring chance for Alex against a stunned and befuddled Luongo and lone Canuck defender.
I don't know if anyone else noticed this series of events, but it was close to revelatory to me. It was just sheer, unadulterated DOMINANCE that couldn't have been orchestrated by any other player on the ice. It was a "can anyone stop this guy?" kind of moment - the sort only Jarome Iginla has been able to give Flames fans over the last few years.
Of course, despite all this good stuff, Phaneuf has no chance at a Norris this season. Lidstrom is just simply on another planet: he faces the toughest competition and still promotes scoring for his own team while deterring goals against like no one else in the league. He'll win it again and he deserves to.
But there is certainly no shame in being nomiated and losing to a guy like Lidstrom, especially for a 3rd year player 3 or 4 years away from his prime years. The potential nomination itself, and everything Phaneuf's done to evoke it, are great signs and are high-five material on their own.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Good News Everyone!
Huselius is going to be healthy scratch tonight (probably)!
The capricious death stare of Iron Mike was bound to land on Juice sooner or later. The Eye has turned it's withering gaze on a number of Flames this year (Primeau, Nilson, Moss, Warrener, Eriksson and recently, Hale and Moss). Some due to obvious incompetence, others...for reasons as of yet unexplained.
Marcus Nilson, one of those I would suggest unfairly maligned by Keenan this year, has worked his way back into the line-up and will probably see some spot duty on the Iggy unit tonight thanks to the Huselius scratching. What's Nilson done to get back in the Iron Man's good graces? Scored 1 goal, 3 points and a +1 rating in the 13 games since his "unbenching". In short, nothing he wasn't doing before he was cast into the press box for an extended period of time. By comparison, the admittedly struggling Huselius has 3 goals, 9 points and +2 rating his last 13 games.
I can only guess that it was the loss against Columbus that set-off this downward spiral: Huselius was ineffective and a -2 in that contest. Since then, he's averaged about 6 minutes of ice, culminating in tonight's alleged outright benching. Of course, the 20-some game scoreless drought probably didn't help anything, but he's hardly the only player who's gone through an extended bout of missing nets and hitting posts this year (Lombardi, Langkow, Jarome). Even with his relatively lackluster play after the all-star break, Huselius is still 2nd on the team in points and 3rd on the team in goals.
I guess Im wondering what Keenan hopes to gain by beating up on Juice down the stretch here. Unless this is some kind of motivational ploy that works to shake Huselius from his doldrums, I can't see Calgary profiting much by this feud, particularly considering the complete lack of scoring beneath Kristian on the depth chart. Again, I don't know if Keenan is playing some kind of game with Huselius to get him going again (very possible) or this benching signals some fundamental shift in strategy going forward (a return to the grinding glory days of 03-04 perhaps). Either way, I suggest there's a chance of it blowing up in Mike's face.
On a completely presumptive note, if Huselius' benching continues indefinitely (as has happened to other players that have found themselves on the outside looking in this season), color me annoyed that Juice wasn't moved at the deadline for some kind of asset - even a relatively nominal one like a 2nd round draft pick. That would be preferable to Juice sitting on the sidelines and then bolting for free agency in the off-season (which is a guarantee now, if it wasn't before). Asset management at it's not-so-finest. Again, that's only if Huselius doesn't find his way back onto the active roster, of course.
The team Huselius probably wont be facing tonight is the ever-pusillanimous Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver sits 2 points back with a game in hand on the Flames, crammed into the uncomfortably small space between 3rd and 9th currently occupied by all the NW division teams. Word is, Luongo might miss the game to be with his imminent-to-deliver wife, so that's some actual good news I suppose (possibly).
The bad news is, the Flames now teeter on that fine edge between 3rd and annihilation by Red Wing thanks to the 2-0 loss to the Avs last night (which I didn't watch). A loss to the nemesistic Vancouver clods (they've kicked our asses since the latter half of last season) tonight throws them into a tie for 8th with Colorado and only 3 points up on the suddenly and inexplicably invulnerable Edmonton Oilers (whom they play twice more). Hardly an ideal situation. Course, a win thrusts them back on top temporarily with the Wild, where they would be able to proclaim their transitory superiority for a night or two before again being usurped in short order. The NW division is as similar to King of the Castle as it is to hockey these days.
Anyways, enough bombast and wailing (for now).
Prediction - Flames 2, Canucks 1. Iggy (2) for Calgary, Stan Smyl for Vancouver.
Go Flames.
The capricious death stare of Iron Mike was bound to land on Juice sooner or later. The Eye has turned it's withering gaze on a number of Flames this year (Primeau, Nilson, Moss, Warrener, Eriksson and recently, Hale and Moss). Some due to obvious incompetence, others...for reasons as of yet unexplained.
Marcus Nilson, one of those I would suggest unfairly maligned by Keenan this year, has worked his way back into the line-up and will probably see some spot duty on the Iggy unit tonight thanks to the Huselius scratching. What's Nilson done to get back in the Iron Man's good graces? Scored 1 goal, 3 points and a +1 rating in the 13 games since his "unbenching". In short, nothing he wasn't doing before he was cast into the press box for an extended period of time. By comparison, the admittedly struggling Huselius has 3 goals, 9 points and +2 rating his last 13 games.
I can only guess that it was the loss against Columbus that set-off this downward spiral: Huselius was ineffective and a -2 in that contest. Since then, he's averaged about 6 minutes of ice, culminating in tonight's alleged outright benching. Of course, the 20-some game scoreless drought probably didn't help anything, but he's hardly the only player who's gone through an extended bout of missing nets and hitting posts this year (Lombardi, Langkow, Jarome). Even with his relatively lackluster play after the all-star break, Huselius is still 2nd on the team in points and 3rd on the team in goals.
I guess Im wondering what Keenan hopes to gain by beating up on Juice down the stretch here. Unless this is some kind of motivational ploy that works to shake Huselius from his doldrums, I can't see Calgary profiting much by this feud, particularly considering the complete lack of scoring beneath Kristian on the depth chart. Again, I don't know if Keenan is playing some kind of game with Huselius to get him going again (very possible) or this benching signals some fundamental shift in strategy going forward (a return to the grinding glory days of 03-04 perhaps). Either way, I suggest there's a chance of it blowing up in Mike's face.
On a completely presumptive note, if Huselius' benching continues indefinitely (as has happened to other players that have found themselves on the outside looking in this season), color me annoyed that Juice wasn't moved at the deadline for some kind of asset - even a relatively nominal one like a 2nd round draft pick. That would be preferable to Juice sitting on the sidelines and then bolting for free agency in the off-season (which is a guarantee now, if it wasn't before). Asset management at it's not-so-finest. Again, that's only if Huselius doesn't find his way back onto the active roster, of course.
The team Huselius probably wont be facing tonight is the ever-pusillanimous Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver sits 2 points back with a game in hand on the Flames, crammed into the uncomfortably small space between 3rd and 9th currently occupied by all the NW division teams. Word is, Luongo might miss the game to be with his imminent-to-deliver wife, so that's some actual good news I suppose (possibly).
The bad news is, the Flames now teeter on that fine edge between 3rd and annihilation by Red Wing thanks to the 2-0 loss to the Avs last night (which I didn't watch). A loss to the nemesistic Vancouver clods (they've kicked our asses since the latter half of last season) tonight throws them into a tie for 8th with Colorado and only 3 points up on the suddenly and inexplicably invulnerable Edmonton Oilers (whom they play twice more). Hardly an ideal situation. Course, a win thrusts them back on top temporarily with the Wild, where they would be able to proclaim their transitory superiority for a night or two before again being usurped in short order. The NW division is as similar to King of the Castle as it is to hockey these days.
Anyways, enough bombast and wailing (for now).
Prediction - Flames 2, Canucks 1. Iggy (2) for Calgary, Stan Smyl for Vancouver.
Go Flames.
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Little Lombo That Could.
I was going to do a rousing, in-depth, pre-game post for the Avs/Flames tilt tonight...but the rest of the Flame-o-sphere seems to have that covered.
So instead, I've chosen to narrow the focus.
During the Wild liveblog, I made a brief mention that I couldn't suss out the match-ups that either coach was pursuing. And for defensible reasons.
Lemaire began the game by shuffling Gaborik through every one of his forward lines. Keenan responded by playing Huselius not at all, moving Vandermeer up-and-down between forward and defense and shifting Nilson from the 1st and 4th lines. It was utter chaos for awhile.
The constant that seemed to emerge from the static was a Lombardi/Gabbers match-up. Since that seemed out of line with Keenan's usual Conroy v. power strategy, I looked it up today to be certain. And, sure enough, there's Lombo taking on Gaborik for a majority of the game. Matthew played about 16 minutes at ES on Saturday night, and spent 10 of them skating against the Wild's primary big gun. For comparison's sake, Conroy saw 3 minutes of Marian that night.
Ten minutes is a significant chunk of time against a legitimate NHL sniper and Lombo did pretty well for himself: even though Gaborik ended up with 2 assists, neither occurred with him on the ice (one vs. Yelle, Conroy and Nilson, the second vs. Iginla, Langkow and Tanguay). In addition, it was Gaborik's unit Lombardi burned for the GWG with a couple minutes to play. Altogether, those are some double-plus good results for the somewhat maligned youngster.
Looking at the shift charts, it's hard to determine whether Keenan or Lemaire was pursuing this Gabbers @ Lombardi strategy. Some of Lombardi's shifts begin just after Gaborik got on the ice and vice versa. Given that the Flames had home-ice advantage and Matthew was tabbed by Keenan to finish off the last minute in the 3rd, Im going to assume it was an Iron Mike initiative. Which leaves me wondering - has Keenan abandoned his Conroy as shut-down center altogether in favor of a Lombo/Yelle shut-down (ie: more traditional 3rd line) strategy? Or was the just an idiosyncratic quirk of that lone contest (Lombardi "playing better", Conroy sick or hurt, etc.).
Whatever the case, I've been encouraged by Lombardi's recent results, despite the fact he hasn't been elevated into a "scoring role", which is something I've ceaselessly wailed about the last couple seasons. Even though Lombardi's not yet in the "top 6", Keenan has employed the speedster a lot recently; particularly in the last week or two where Matthew has frequently been one of the top forwards on the club in terms of total ice-time. He's topped 19+ minutes in each of the last four games, including Saturday night. His 21:53 in ice-time was about 30 seconds more than even Jarome Iginla.
That's heady territory for a guy that was hovering around 12 minutes/night at the same time last seaons, when he was playing like he was a tad...broken and lost. There's been rough patches this season, no question, but this recent upswing in play and responsibility has assuaged many of the fears I had of potential spoilage coming from "mis-use". Matt noted a few weeks ago that Lombardi will probably be a better player for all his trials on the 3rd unit this year. And I think I'm starting to believe him.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alrighty then. Flames @ Avs, first place is on the line, clusterf*** division, blah blah blah...
Notables:
- Forsberg in the line-up, Colorado is desperate having lost 4 in a row and Oilers fans will be forced to cheer for us (HA!). Course, we're obliged to cheer for them, given that they're facing the Wild this evening, but, that doesn't completely quell my resultant glee.
- The Avs will be lacking the injured Adam Foote, the Flames the Boogered Mark Smith. Expect one of Nystrom or Boyd to draw in for the Mark, leaving Keenan's new Marcus Nilson (David Moss) out in the cold. Expect Hale to be joining him.
- It'll be interesting to see who Lombardi faces tonight and how much Juice gets to play. I doubt Lombardi sees much of Sakic, even granting his relative success against Gaborik, but you never know. I also assume Huselius will remain on strict PP duty until things go pear-shaped and/or the Flames lose. Why mess with success, right?
Prediction - I don't shell out the $13 for the PPV and spend the night huddled close to a radio with a bottle of booze in my hand and a ready curse on my tongue.
Go Flames!
So instead, I've chosen to narrow the focus.
During the Wild liveblog, I made a brief mention that I couldn't suss out the match-ups that either coach was pursuing. And for defensible reasons.
Lemaire began the game by shuffling Gaborik through every one of his forward lines. Keenan responded by playing Huselius not at all, moving Vandermeer up-and-down between forward and defense and shifting Nilson from the 1st and 4th lines. It was utter chaos for awhile.
The constant that seemed to emerge from the static was a Lombardi/Gabbers match-up. Since that seemed out of line with Keenan's usual Conroy v. power strategy, I looked it up today to be certain. And, sure enough, there's Lombo taking on Gaborik for a majority of the game. Matthew played about 16 minutes at ES on Saturday night, and spent 10 of them skating against the Wild's primary big gun. For comparison's sake, Conroy saw 3 minutes of Marian that night.
Ten minutes is a significant chunk of time against a legitimate NHL sniper and Lombo did pretty well for himself: even though Gaborik ended up with 2 assists, neither occurred with him on the ice (one vs. Yelle, Conroy and Nilson, the second vs. Iginla, Langkow and Tanguay). In addition, it was Gaborik's unit Lombardi burned for the GWG with a couple minutes to play. Altogether, those are some double-plus good results for the somewhat maligned youngster.
Looking at the shift charts, it's hard to determine whether Keenan or Lemaire was pursuing this Gabbers @ Lombardi strategy. Some of Lombardi's shifts begin just after Gaborik got on the ice and vice versa. Given that the Flames had home-ice advantage and Matthew was tabbed by Keenan to finish off the last minute in the 3rd, Im going to assume it was an Iron Mike initiative. Which leaves me wondering - has Keenan abandoned his Conroy as shut-down center altogether in favor of a Lombo/Yelle shut-down (ie: more traditional 3rd line) strategy? Or was the just an idiosyncratic quirk of that lone contest (Lombardi "playing better", Conroy sick or hurt, etc.).
Whatever the case, I've been encouraged by Lombardi's recent results, despite the fact he hasn't been elevated into a "scoring role", which is something I've ceaselessly wailed about the last couple seasons. Even though Lombardi's not yet in the "top 6", Keenan has employed the speedster a lot recently; particularly in the last week or two where Matthew has frequently been one of the top forwards on the club in terms of total ice-time. He's topped 19+ minutes in each of the last four games, including Saturday night. His 21:53 in ice-time was about 30 seconds more than even Jarome Iginla.
That's heady territory for a guy that was hovering around 12 minutes/night at the same time last seaons, when he was playing like he was a tad...broken and lost. There's been rough patches this season, no question, but this recent upswing in play and responsibility has assuaged many of the fears I had of potential spoilage coming from "mis-use". Matt noted a few weeks ago that Lombardi will probably be a better player for all his trials on the 3rd unit this year. And I think I'm starting to believe him.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alrighty then. Flames @ Avs, first place is on the line, clusterf*** division, blah blah blah...
Notables:
- Forsberg in the line-up, Colorado is desperate having lost 4 in a row and Oilers fans will be forced to cheer for us (HA!). Course, we're obliged to cheer for them, given that they're facing the Wild this evening, but, that doesn't completely quell my resultant glee.
- The Avs will be lacking the injured Adam Foote, the Flames the Boogered Mark Smith. Expect one of Nystrom or Boyd to draw in for the Mark, leaving Keenan's new Marcus Nilson (David Moss) out in the cold. Expect Hale to be joining him.
- It'll be interesting to see who Lombardi faces tonight and how much Juice gets to play. I doubt Lombardi sees much of Sakic, even granting his relative success against Gaborik, but you never know. I also assume Huselius will remain on strict PP duty until things go pear-shaped and/or the Flames lose. Why mess with success, right?
Prediction - I don't shell out the $13 for the PPV and spend the night huddled close to a radio with a bottle of booze in my hand and a ready curse on my tongue.
Go Flames!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Flames versus Wild Liveblog
The Leafs just finished upsetting the Sens. I'm tempted to eschew liveblogging the Flames game in favor of discussing the much more interesting and still very alive Maple Leaf play-off drive...
Seriously, though, it'll be interesting to see how Keenan manages the bench tonight. Apparently Huselius was given a "Jason Allison" type role alast game and in recent practice rushes; meaning lots of time with Marcus Nilson and other various stand-ins taking most of his ES shifts.
Also, word is the kids are the scratches tonight (Moss, Boyd, Nystrom), which Im ambivalent about. I'll have more to say about that in light of the performances by the vets - good, then good. bad, then I'll complain. That's the benefit of being an armchair coach/GM/smartass.
FIRST PERIOD -
20:00 - Jarome wins another award. Yay.
19:00 - Nilson starts the first with Iggy and Langkow. Eriksson is back with Phaneuf of course.
18:30 - nothing happening so far. Is that Regher with Vandermeer?
17:30 - Color man talking about Keenan having two options in terms of defensive matches vs. Gaborik: Regehr/Sarich and Phaneuf/Eriksson. Clearly he hasn't seen Bubba play that much.
16:30 - Jarome already looks a little pissed off. Good news.
16:00 - WTF? Vandermeer playing the LW on this shift. Still no Huselius so far...looks like he's relegated to PP duty again this eveing.
15:00 - Godard and Boogaard square off, but the fight lasts about 10 seconds as the combatants tumble and the refs step in. Meh.
Wow...Simon Vs. Vandermeer now. Jimmy stands toe to toe for awhile, but gets fed quite a few hard shots. Decision: Simon.
Have I mentioned I think this vandermeer on the wing stuff is RIDICULOUS?
14:00 - Jarome takes a shift with the 4th line (Nilson/Smith) and they generate the first bit of offensive zone pressure and the first penalty. PP Flames.
Annnd...as expected, there's Juice's first shift.
PP ends with a minimum of chances or pressure. boo.
10:00 - I can't seem to decipher what either coach is doing in terms of matching strategy yet. Seems all over the map.
Haha...the color team talking about the Flames inconsistency. No doubt all for the benefit of Matt.
First Huselius ES shift by my eye half way through the first period.
8:00 - The Conroy/Tanguay line goes out against Gabby et al and totally owns them. Tanguay is flying so far tonight.
7:00 - Kipper with his first big save of the period. On the same play, Regehr pastes Demitra.
6:00 - Boogaard running around, trying to create havok. He runs Phaneuf out of frame and the crowd cheers...meaning, it didn't go well for the Man Mountain. Haha!
Godard highsticks the Boogieman shortly thereafter and the Wild go to their first PP.
Edited to add...the penalty turns out to be BS (stick was "near" his face). call was made due to Boogaard's reaction rather than any actual foul.
5:00 - Best chance on the Wild PP so far goes to the Flames - Tanguay and Nolan create a brief odd-man rush and get an offensive zone draw. Good stuff.
PP ends...Wild didn't get a sniff.
3:00 - ARGH! Jarome sets up Langkow for a break-away, but the puck bobbles and harding poke-checks it away.
1:30 - Nolan and Lombardi pull s nifty little give-and-go deep in the offensive zone and it almost pays off. I've always liked what I've seen between those two, but they've never stuck together.
1:00 - Gaborik gets a good chance off the transition, but Kipper shuts him down.
Pretty even first period. The shots ended up 10-10 and I'd say scoring chances were equal as well. Flames have played a pretty solid game so far...the lack of glaring errors is notable.
2ND PERIOD -
20:00 - Lemaire starts his checking line and Keenan responds with Conroy/Tanguay.
18:00 - Wayne Primeau gets the Flames 2nd penalty of the night. Defensive zone hook.
17:00 - Dion Phaneuf scores what might the goal of year on the PK...coast to coast through the entire Wild team. Out-freakin-standing.
Shades of Gary Suter, for those who remember him in Flames colors.
15:00 - Langkow dekes out Johnsson in the offensive zone and draws a penalty...PP Calgary.
Lots of good puck movement and control on the PP for the change, but the Flames can't cash in.
13:00 - Simon gets called for goaltender interference...unfairly in my view. Sarich pushes him towards Kipper and Simon "hugs" him to avoid knocking him over. Ah well, PP Flames.
Calgary can't get control of the puck even once during the PP and it ends without incident. Blah.
10:00 - Fedoruk runs Kipper, and this time the penalty is deserved. Flames back on the PP. Hopefully it goes a bit better this time.
Kipper with a 5 bell save on a Wild two-on-one! Minny with the only scoring chance during the Flames PP.
7:00 - Two Flames muff a shoot-in...the puck gets by 2 Calgary players in the Minny zone along the boards somehow and results in another two-on-one. The resultant pass from Benoit Pouliot bounces off of sarich and in the Flames net. Game tied 1-1.
As a bonus, the Flames were going to be called for 2 separate penalties on the scoring play (hooking to Primeau again and a too many men)...so the Wild go right to the PP.
6:00 - Luckily Burns boards Yelle, nullifying the Wild PP. Phew.
5:00 - Jarome and Tanguay execute an excellent two-on-one, with Tanguay cutting across and sending a back-hand just over the cross-bar. The Wild turn it back shortly thereafter and get their third extra-man rush of the period. Rolston blasts a shot into Kipper's chest, so no damage done. That said, Flames need to clamp down on these chances off the transition.
2:30 - Eriksson gives the puck away beside his own net and it results in a great wild chance and a great Kipper save. Wild hems the Flames in their own end for awhile.
Huselius gets maybe his 3rd ES shift afterwards.
1:30 - Pouliot scores his 2nd of the period and the Wild take a 2-1 lead. Not good.
0:23 - GOAL - An odd combination of Lombardi, Vandermeer and Iginla take an offensive zone face-off and it results in an Iggy goal. Phaneuf with a shot from the point and Jarome bangs the rebound home. Great response.
Flames get outshot and probably outchanced in the 2nd and are tied due to some strong performances from their better players (Iginla, Phaneuf and Kiprusoff). Still, not a huge difference between the two teams so far and the game could really go either way in the 3rd.
Watching the out of town scores during the intermission here. Dallas losing to LA 4-2 today must have Brad Richards wondering if he's cursed. I mean, the Stars were cruising till he got there and have gone right in the tank since.
I don't think it has anything to do with him, really. Correlation isn't causation in this case. Dallas had a lot of unlikely things going right for them all at the same time - Riberio's career season, Hagman scoring every other game, etc. - and Im guessing some of those things have begun to "come back to earth" recently.
3RD PERIOD -
20:00 - Lomabrdi finished the 2nd and then starts the 3rd...with Owen Nolan on his wing.
19:00 - GOAL - Alex Tanguay feeds Jarome in the deep slot and Iggy buries it. No chance for Harding. 3-2 Flames.
18:00 - Lombardi's unit has a decent shift against Gaborik. That trio has looked as good as can be expected so far tonight.
16:00 - Sarich crushes Chris Simon and gets a penalty. PP Wild.
Wild get the Flames running around, but Kipper makes a big save on a Johnsson shot.
14:00 - Sarich steps out of the box and Fedoruk goes right after him. The players trade blows for a solid minute before being separated, and I think Sarich handles himself pretty well. Instigator on Fedoruk anyone?
Nope...damn. Even-steven.
13:20 - GOAL - Tanguay and Jarome playing together this period and dominating. Jarome bangs home another Phaneuf rebound and scores his natural hat-trick. Fifty is definitely a possibility after tonight.
Crowd responds with an "MVP!" chant. Awesome.
12:00 - Kipper ROBS James sheppard on a good, point blank chance. I don't even know how he got his glove on this shot.
10:30 - Gaborik manages to strip a bouncing puck from Phaneuf deep in the Flames zone, but Kipper comes up big again. The big boys are really showing up tonight.
10:00 - As I typed the above, Kim Johnsson fired one past a screened Kipper. 4-3 Flames now.
Hughson and Simpson keep pimping this angle that the NW Division is (still) relatively low-scoring. It just isn't true anymore, outside of Vancouver.
6:00 - Three straight shifts of play in the Wild's zone. Good stuff. Best chance comes off a Lombardi shot that finds it's way through traffic, but bounces off the toe of Harding's pad.
4:00 - I think I've seen Juice once this period. If the Flames win, it makes me wonder if this type of role is going to continue for him indefinitely.
3:00 - Conroy/Nolan get penned in their own end and Nolan makes a grievous give-away at his own blueline. Luckily, the Wild can't take advantage.
1:30 - GOAL!!! - Yelle strips the puck from Gaborik at the Flames blueline and springs Lombo. Lombardi sprints into the zone and blasts the puck through Hardings legs. Big goal, right Matt ;).
1:00 - The Wild score on a some sloppy defensive zone coverage. Sigh. Nothing's ever easy.
0:00 - Flames Win 5-4! WOOHOO!
Interestingly, Yelle and Lombardi were on the ice of the last minute for the 2nd straight 1-goal lead. Quite the vote of confidence from the coach.
A surprisingly entertaining affair, considering the reputation of the opposition. Calgary did everything they needed to win, although there was still too many defensive zone break-downs for my liking. When your goalie plays as well as Kipper did this evenig and you still give-up 4 goals, something's wrong.
That said, the 2 points are all that matter at this time of the season.
PS - I'd like to thank the Oilers for beating the Avs this afternoon. Much appreciated gents ;)!
Seriously, though, it'll be interesting to see how Keenan manages the bench tonight. Apparently Huselius was given a "Jason Allison" type role alast game and in recent practice rushes; meaning lots of time with Marcus Nilson and other various stand-ins taking most of his ES shifts.
Also, word is the kids are the scratches tonight (Moss, Boyd, Nystrom), which Im ambivalent about. I'll have more to say about that in light of the performances by the vets - good, then good. bad, then I'll complain. That's the benefit of being an armchair coach/GM/smartass.
FIRST PERIOD -
20:00 - Jarome wins another award. Yay.
19:00 - Nilson starts the first with Iggy and Langkow. Eriksson is back with Phaneuf of course.
18:30 - nothing happening so far. Is that Regher with Vandermeer?
17:30 - Color man talking about Keenan having two options in terms of defensive matches vs. Gaborik: Regehr/Sarich and Phaneuf/Eriksson. Clearly he hasn't seen Bubba play that much.
16:30 - Jarome already looks a little pissed off. Good news.
16:00 - WTF? Vandermeer playing the LW on this shift. Still no Huselius so far...looks like he's relegated to PP duty again this eveing.
15:00 - Godard and Boogaard square off, but the fight lasts about 10 seconds as the combatants tumble and the refs step in. Meh.
Wow...Simon Vs. Vandermeer now. Jimmy stands toe to toe for awhile, but gets fed quite a few hard shots. Decision: Simon.
Have I mentioned I think this vandermeer on the wing stuff is RIDICULOUS?
14:00 - Jarome takes a shift with the 4th line (Nilson/Smith) and they generate the first bit of offensive zone pressure and the first penalty. PP Flames.
Annnd...as expected, there's Juice's first shift.
PP ends with a minimum of chances or pressure. boo.
10:00 - I can't seem to decipher what either coach is doing in terms of matching strategy yet. Seems all over the map.
Haha...the color team talking about the Flames inconsistency. No doubt all for the benefit of Matt.
First Huselius ES shift by my eye half way through the first period.
8:00 - The Conroy/Tanguay line goes out against Gabby et al and totally owns them. Tanguay is flying so far tonight.
7:00 - Kipper with his first big save of the period. On the same play, Regehr pastes Demitra.
6:00 - Boogaard running around, trying to create havok. He runs Phaneuf out of frame and the crowd cheers...meaning, it didn't go well for the Man Mountain. Haha!
Godard highsticks the Boogieman shortly thereafter and the Wild go to their first PP.
Edited to add...the penalty turns out to be BS (stick was "near" his face). call was made due to Boogaard's reaction rather than any actual foul.
5:00 - Best chance on the Wild PP so far goes to the Flames - Tanguay and Nolan create a brief odd-man rush and get an offensive zone draw. Good stuff.
PP ends...Wild didn't get a sniff.
3:00 - ARGH! Jarome sets up Langkow for a break-away, but the puck bobbles and harding poke-checks it away.
1:30 - Nolan and Lombardi pull s nifty little give-and-go deep in the offensive zone and it almost pays off. I've always liked what I've seen between those two, but they've never stuck together.
1:00 - Gaborik gets a good chance off the transition, but Kipper shuts him down.
Pretty even first period. The shots ended up 10-10 and I'd say scoring chances were equal as well. Flames have played a pretty solid game so far...the lack of glaring errors is notable.
2ND PERIOD -
20:00 - Lemaire starts his checking line and Keenan responds with Conroy/Tanguay.
18:00 - Wayne Primeau gets the Flames 2nd penalty of the night. Defensive zone hook.
17:00 - Dion Phaneuf scores what might the goal of year on the PK...coast to coast through the entire Wild team. Out-freakin-standing.
Shades of Gary Suter, for those who remember him in Flames colors.
15:00 - Langkow dekes out Johnsson in the offensive zone and draws a penalty...PP Calgary.
Lots of good puck movement and control on the PP for the change, but the Flames can't cash in.
13:00 - Simon gets called for goaltender interference...unfairly in my view. Sarich pushes him towards Kipper and Simon "hugs" him to avoid knocking him over. Ah well, PP Flames.
Calgary can't get control of the puck even once during the PP and it ends without incident. Blah.
10:00 - Fedoruk runs Kipper, and this time the penalty is deserved. Flames back on the PP. Hopefully it goes a bit better this time.
Kipper with a 5 bell save on a Wild two-on-one! Minny with the only scoring chance during the Flames PP.
7:00 - Two Flames muff a shoot-in...the puck gets by 2 Calgary players in the Minny zone along the boards somehow and results in another two-on-one. The resultant pass from Benoit Pouliot bounces off of sarich and in the Flames net. Game tied 1-1.
As a bonus, the Flames were going to be called for 2 separate penalties on the scoring play (hooking to Primeau again and a too many men)...so the Wild go right to the PP.
6:00 - Luckily Burns boards Yelle, nullifying the Wild PP. Phew.
5:00 - Jarome and Tanguay execute an excellent two-on-one, with Tanguay cutting across and sending a back-hand just over the cross-bar. The Wild turn it back shortly thereafter and get their third extra-man rush of the period. Rolston blasts a shot into Kipper's chest, so no damage done. That said, Flames need to clamp down on these chances off the transition.
2:30 - Eriksson gives the puck away beside his own net and it results in a great wild chance and a great Kipper save. Wild hems the Flames in their own end for awhile.
Huselius gets maybe his 3rd ES shift afterwards.
1:30 - Pouliot scores his 2nd of the period and the Wild take a 2-1 lead. Not good.
0:23 - GOAL - An odd combination of Lombardi, Vandermeer and Iginla take an offensive zone face-off and it results in an Iggy goal. Phaneuf with a shot from the point and Jarome bangs the rebound home. Great response.
Flames get outshot and probably outchanced in the 2nd and are tied due to some strong performances from their better players (Iginla, Phaneuf and Kiprusoff). Still, not a huge difference between the two teams so far and the game could really go either way in the 3rd.
Watching the out of town scores during the intermission here. Dallas losing to LA 4-2 today must have Brad Richards wondering if he's cursed. I mean, the Stars were cruising till he got there and have gone right in the tank since.
I don't think it has anything to do with him, really. Correlation isn't causation in this case. Dallas had a lot of unlikely things going right for them all at the same time - Riberio's career season, Hagman scoring every other game, etc. - and Im guessing some of those things have begun to "come back to earth" recently.
3RD PERIOD -
20:00 - Lomabrdi finished the 2nd and then starts the 3rd...with Owen Nolan on his wing.
19:00 - GOAL - Alex Tanguay feeds Jarome in the deep slot and Iggy buries it. No chance for Harding. 3-2 Flames.
18:00 - Lombardi's unit has a decent shift against Gaborik. That trio has looked as good as can be expected so far tonight.
16:00 - Sarich crushes Chris Simon and gets a penalty. PP Wild.
Wild get the Flames running around, but Kipper makes a big save on a Johnsson shot.
14:00 - Sarich steps out of the box and Fedoruk goes right after him. The players trade blows for a solid minute before being separated, and I think Sarich handles himself pretty well. Instigator on Fedoruk anyone?
Nope...damn. Even-steven.
13:20 - GOAL - Tanguay and Jarome playing together this period and dominating. Jarome bangs home another Phaneuf rebound and scores his natural hat-trick. Fifty is definitely a possibility after tonight.
Crowd responds with an "MVP!" chant. Awesome.
12:00 - Kipper ROBS James sheppard on a good, point blank chance. I don't even know how he got his glove on this shot.
10:30 - Gaborik manages to strip a bouncing puck from Phaneuf deep in the Flames zone, but Kipper comes up big again. The big boys are really showing up tonight.
10:00 - As I typed the above, Kim Johnsson fired one past a screened Kipper. 4-3 Flames now.
Hughson and Simpson keep pimping this angle that the NW Division is (still) relatively low-scoring. It just isn't true anymore, outside of Vancouver.
6:00 - Three straight shifts of play in the Wild's zone. Good stuff. Best chance comes off a Lombardi shot that finds it's way through traffic, but bounces off the toe of Harding's pad.
4:00 - I think I've seen Juice once this period. If the Flames win, it makes me wonder if this type of role is going to continue for him indefinitely.
3:00 - Conroy/Nolan get penned in their own end and Nolan makes a grievous give-away at his own blueline. Luckily, the Wild can't take advantage.
1:30 - GOAL!!! - Yelle strips the puck from Gaborik at the Flames blueline and springs Lombo. Lombardi sprints into the zone and blasts the puck through Hardings legs. Big goal, right Matt ;).
1:00 - The Wild score on a some sloppy defensive zone coverage. Sigh. Nothing's ever easy.
0:00 - Flames Win 5-4! WOOHOO!
Interestingly, Yelle and Lombardi were on the ice of the last minute for the 2nd straight 1-goal lead. Quite the vote of confidence from the coach.
A surprisingly entertaining affair, considering the reputation of the opposition. Calgary did everything they needed to win, although there was still too many defensive zone break-downs for my liking. When your goalie plays as well as Kipper did this evenig and you still give-up 4 goals, something's wrong.
That said, the 2 points are all that matter at this time of the season.
PS - I'd like to thank the Oilers for beating the Avs this afternoon. Much appreciated gents ;)!
Flames and Wild Pregame
With the Avs getting their asses kicked by the Oilers as we speak (or type, as it were), the contest this evening between Calgary and Minny becomes just a smidgen less...dire, I suppose, in terms of simply making the post-season. The NW divsion crown (or the "yay! No Red Wings in the first round!" award) is still up for grabs, and a Flames 'W' would go be a nice step towards that worthy goal.
With all that in mind, it might just be time for my first ever liveblog tonight - FHF is over 3 years old now, so I think we're due.
DISCLAIMER - be prepared for wild mood swings, brazen scapegoating of certain players, snarky remarks about the reffing and coaching and tourettes-like expletive flinging.
If none of that bugs you and you're losery enough to spend a Saturday night on a computer, I hope a few of you will swing by to laugh at the ranting.
EDIT - may have spoken to soon on the Oilers/Avs front. In the time it took me to type this post, the Avs scored 3 goals to come roaring back...
With all that in mind, it might just be time for my first ever liveblog tonight - FHF is over 3 years old now, so I think we're due.
DISCLAIMER - be prepared for wild mood swings, brazen scapegoating of certain players, snarky remarks about the reffing and coaching and tourettes-like expletive flinging.
If none of that bugs you and you're losery enough to spend a Saturday night on a computer, I hope a few of you will swing by to laugh at the ranting.
EDIT - may have spoken to soon on the Oilers/Avs front. In the time it took me to type this post, the Avs scored 3 goals to come roaring back...
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Flames Game Day - Rubber Hits the Road
There's nothing new left to say about this team. Nine games left and it's pure "kill or be killed".
The first foe to enter Thunderdome is the loathsome Colorado Avalanche: a club that has repeatedly been outplayed by the Flames this season, but have repeatedly won games nonetheless. I'd say Calgary is due, but it's starting to look like one of those unfortunate arrangements where one team has another teams "number". I guess the best Flames fans can hope for is a repeat of previous domination, except lacking the bad bounces and curiously bad officiating that have conspired to turn wins into losses.
Course, that may be asking a bit too much: the Flames have only rarely played competent hockey since late February. Otherwise, they've been handily out-chanced on most occasions. The 20 shot differential between Calgary and Columbus (a non-play-off team) recently is indicative of the Flames play, particularly the last 15 games or so. As I pointed out back when their 7-2-1 in 10 record was more favorable (but rather illusory), that's not a winning strategy over the long haul. Problem being, I don't see any solution to what ails the team: particularly with Tanguay likely sitting in the press-box for an indefinite amount of time. That's an ES difference on the shelf precisely when the Flames need one.
As for the the Avs, they're tied with the Flames but with one more game played and are therefore in a slightly more desperate situation. They also have some of their own injury issues, including Jordan Leopold, Marek Svatos and - surprise - Peter Forsberg. That said, the Avs still scare the hell out of me, not just because of the issue mentioned above, but because of their impressive forward depth headed by Joe "Flame Killer" Sakic**.
**FUN FACT - Sakic has 999 assists. I put the chances at 99% he reaches the 1000 career milestone this evening.
Sigh. Oh well. At very least, the next two weeks should be interesting. And by that I mean, gut-wrenching and potentially heart-breaking. Still, interesting nonetheless.
The first foe to enter Thunderdome is the loathsome Colorado Avalanche: a club that has repeatedly been outplayed by the Flames this season, but have repeatedly won games nonetheless. I'd say Calgary is due, but it's starting to look like one of those unfortunate arrangements where one team has another teams "number". I guess the best Flames fans can hope for is a repeat of previous domination, except lacking the bad bounces and curiously bad officiating that have conspired to turn wins into losses.
Course, that may be asking a bit too much: the Flames have only rarely played competent hockey since late February. Otherwise, they've been handily out-chanced on most occasions. The 20 shot differential between Calgary and Columbus (a non-play-off team) recently is indicative of the Flames play, particularly the last 15 games or so. As I pointed out back when their 7-2-1 in 10 record was more favorable (but rather illusory), that's not a winning strategy over the long haul. Problem being, I don't see any solution to what ails the team: particularly with Tanguay likely sitting in the press-box for an indefinite amount of time. That's an ES difference on the shelf precisely when the Flames need one.
As for the the Avs, they're tied with the Flames but with one more game played and are therefore in a slightly more desperate situation. They also have some of their own injury issues, including Jordan Leopold, Marek Svatos and - surprise - Peter Forsberg. That said, the Avs still scare the hell out of me, not just because of the issue mentioned above, but because of their impressive forward depth headed by Joe "Flame Killer" Sakic**.
**FUN FACT - Sakic has 999 assists. I put the chances at 99% he reaches the 1000 career milestone this evening.
Sigh. Oh well. At very least, the next two weeks should be interesting. And by that I mean, gut-wrenching and potentially heart-breaking. Still, interesting nonetheless.
Giordano Update
For those of you who don't peruse the messageboads, this one comes via poster "zhor" from Calgarypuck. Now, anonymous people on messageboards aren't necessarily the most reliable source of info, but it looks like this guy/gal joined for the expressed purpose of updating everyone stuck on this side of the pond on Gio's progress. So, for now, I'll assume it's an accurate portrayal.
Anyways, according to "zhor", Gio was Dynamo's "best" defensemen during the play-offs. After going 4-9-13 in 50 regular season games, Giordano put together a 1 goal and six assist post-season in just 9 games, and played in all situations.
More than the point totals, the latter part is the most encouraging. It sounds like Marky Mark was anchoring the power-play and killing penalties, which is a nice step forward from where he was last year (even if he is playing in a lesser league).
It goes without saying that I'd like to see Giordano back in Flames colors next year. That was probably true no matter how the Russian experiment went, but it's encouraging to hear he's developed some during his time over there.
Anyways, according to "zhor", Gio was Dynamo's "best" defensemen during the play-offs. After going 4-9-13 in 50 regular season games, Giordano put together a 1 goal and six assist post-season in just 9 games, and played in all situations.
More than the point totals, the latter part is the most encouraging. It sounds like Marky Mark was anchoring the power-play and killing penalties, which is a nice step forward from where he was last year (even if he is playing in a lesser league).
It goes without saying that I'd like to see Giordano back in Flames colors next year. That was probably true no matter how the Russian experiment went, but it's encouraging to hear he's developed some during his time over there.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Revival of the Leadership Meme
After the gut-punch roadtrip, the new/old scapegoat for the Flames woes on all the messageboards, call-in shows and water-cooler chats has been revived...
That's right: leadership. Flames don't have the "heart" or the "passion" or the "will to win". Jarome is too nice (wasn't he "one of the best leaders in the league" in December? Isn't he a hart trophy candidate?).
Folks...the Flames are mediocre, because, well...THE FLAMES ARE MEDIOCRE. Not because of some mythical, ineffable "quality" lacking in the athletic souls of our players (that apparently only manifests when the team is winning). Jarome could be the biggest asshole this side of Brian Burke and it still wouldn't make Aucoin a top 4 defensemen or Primeau a top 6 forward. It wouldn't heal Rhett Warrener's various ailments and it wouldn't make him better with the puck. Iggy could slam David Hales head into the shower tile a dozen times...David Hale's still not going to score.
If Jarome's fighting, scoring and generally beating the hell out of his opponents 8 out of every 10 games isn't enough push the club over the hump, then I fail to see how a rousing, charismatic speech is going to make the difference (hell - he might be doing that now anyways!). Iginla's done all he can do this year, on team with "veteran experience and savvy" coming out of it's ass. The Flames should have "leadership", of every possible stripe, to spare (add in the ball-busting antics of Mike Keenan as well). It's not the problem. Look at the roster again. It's a unwieldy combination of great and poor. Very bright and rather dull. And the result is lackluster.
That's right: leadership. Flames don't have the "heart" or the "passion" or the "will to win". Jarome is too nice (wasn't he "one of the best leaders in the league" in December? Isn't he a hart trophy candidate?).
Folks...the Flames are mediocre, because, well...THE FLAMES ARE MEDIOCRE. Not because of some mythical, ineffable "quality" lacking in the athletic souls of our players (that apparently only manifests when the team is winning). Jarome could be the biggest asshole this side of Brian Burke and it still wouldn't make Aucoin a top 4 defensemen or Primeau a top 6 forward. It wouldn't heal Rhett Warrener's various ailments and it wouldn't make him better with the puck. Iggy could slam David Hales head into the shower tile a dozen times...David Hale's still not going to score.
If Jarome's fighting, scoring and generally beating the hell out of his opponents 8 out of every 10 games isn't enough push the club over the hump, then I fail to see how a rousing, charismatic speech is going to make the difference (hell - he might be doing that now anyways!). Iginla's done all he can do this year, on team with "veteran experience and savvy" coming out of it's ass. The Flames should have "leadership", of every possible stripe, to spare (add in the ball-busting antics of Mike Keenan as well). It's not the problem. Look at the roster again. It's a unwieldy combination of great and poor. Very bright and rather dull. And the result is lackluster.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Final Countdown
Heading into the final 10 games and the NW is a ridiculous as ever:
Minny - 86
Calgary - 84
Vancouver - 84
Colorado - 84
Edmonton - Doesn't Matter
After Columbus, the Flames play 9 straight against their divisional rivals. From the "nothing's ever easy" motif that seems to dominate this corner of the league, Im guessing all the play-off teams will basically split their series with the other play-off teams and it'll all come down to who can glean the most points from the Spoilers down the stretch. And - wouldn't you know it? - Edmonton's been walking on water recently. They're somehow the hottest team in the division with an 8-2-0 record in their last 10, and have nothing beyond pride and spite to play for. Those aren't circumstances that fill me with optimism. Because, as mentioned here on numerous occasions, Calgary isn't just jockeying for a play-off spot here: they're jockeying for position. An 8th place finish all but guarantees another humiliating 6 (or less) and out at the hands of the Red Wings. If Sutter and the boys want to win a series for the first time since the miracle run, "8th isn't good enough" has to be their attitude from now until the end of the regular season. And Im sure KLowe and MacT and T-Bird and FunBoy and R2D2 and whoever else up North would just love to hand the Flames a few losses and ensure another figurative castration at the Joe in April.
Tidbits:
- Jarome Iginla is the NHL's first star from last week. He's also been one of the best forwards in the league over the last 30 days, which isn't much of a surprise I guess. What might be though is both Dion Phaneuf and Miikka Kiprusoff have been pace setters over the last month or so as well (via Mirtle). Let's see if Phaneuf can keep it up now that he's got Bubba riding shot-gun again.
As for Miikka, here's how his SV% graph looks these days:
Slow but steady...
- Yup, Rhett Warrener is injured. Again. He somehow managed to break his ankle in practice. He hasn't played since March 4th and was only averaging about 14 minutes a game when he was playing...and he's still getting hurt. Brittle as a Flake bar. Question: how do you know your athletic career is winding down? Answer: when your injury page is as long and varied as Amy Winehouse's illicit substance addiction list -
05-Jan-08 Missed 19 games (fractured leg).
29-Nov-07 Fractured leg, late January.
25-Nov-07 Leg injury, day-to-day.
13-Nov-07 Missed 4 games (throat).
03-Nov-07 Throat, day-to-day.
20-Mar-07 Missed 3 games (undisclosed).
14-Mar-07 Undisclosed injury, sidelined indefinitely.
10-Feb-07 Missed 2 games (arm injury).
06-Feb-07 Arm injury, day-to-day.
23-Dec-06 Missed 5 games (leg injury).
12-Dec-06 Leg injury, day-to-day.
28-Nov-06 Missed 1 game (hip injury).
26-Nov-06 Hip injury, day-to-day.
17-Oct-06 Missed 5 games (knee injury).
05-Oct-06 Knee injury, mid-October.
11-Apr-06 Missed 17 games (sprained MCL).
09-Mar-06 Sprained MCL, mid-April.
06-Jan-06 Missed 3 games (knee injury).
29-Dec-05 Knee injury, day-to-day.
TSN has yet to add the fractured ankle to the top there. May I suggest:
18-Mar-08 Fractured ankle (just retire already. I mean...who are you trying to kid here? Entire families performing trapeze in the circus don't get hurt this much. Knee? Hip? Leg? Ankle? Throat!? UNDISCLOSED?? Rhett, seriously...ask not for whom the gong tolls).
- Another hit to the "defensive depth" (not really though)! I find it ironic that the 03-04 run instilled in Sutter this anxiety of "not having enough defensemen" for the post-season: primarily because, so far, that has been the only year his Flames have garnered any kind of play-off success.
In fact, It could be argued that Sutter's efforts to buffer the back-end and avoid another Brennan Evans episode has actually hurt the team as much as (or more than) it's helped it the last few years (the Brad Stuart trade, signing Eriksson, hanging on to Warrener, etc.). It's particularly galling when considering some of the players Sutter has allowed to slip through his fingers during the same time frame (Toni Lydman, Mike Commodore, Mark Giordano) for little or no return.
Just imagine how much better this defense corps would be:
Regehr (4M)-Sarich (3.6M)
Phaneuf (6.5M)-Lydman (2.875M)
Commodore (2M?)-Ference (1.4M)
Giordano (800k)
total salary: 21.175M
Versus next year's probable back-end of...
Regehr (4M)-Sarich(3.6M)
Phaneuf (6.5M)-Aucoin (4M)
Eriksson (1.5M)-Warrener (2.35M)
Vandermeer? (1.5M) or Hale (700k)
total salary: 23.45M with Vandermeer or 22.65 with Hale.
Ugh. Looking at that pricey yet ineffective crew makes me want to stop worrying about the last 10 games of the season and start worrying about the summer and the start of next season instead.
- Alex Tanguay with a broken big toe. That's certainly more of a concern...not only because Tanguay is a difference maker on this team, but because his potential replacements on the "2nd line" (term employed loosely) are Wayne Primeau and Marcus Nilson. Hopefully, Alex won't actually miss any time so we won't have witness that ugly scenario. According to Inside the Flames, he's a GTD against the BJs tonight, so that's encouraging.
- The news isn't as good for Nyzerman though. Sounds like he might have a concussion after being demolished by Chicago's Adam Burish. It's probably a blessing in disguise, because Nystrom the younger, for all his effort and will to fight people he shouldn't fight, looked like a man drowning whenever he took to the ice recently.
All told, I think the Nystrom experiment this season has gone rather poorly. I was somewhat encouraged earlier in the year when he kinda looked like he might be a Stephane Yelle type player, but that quickly fell by the wayside. Eric is already 25, so not much more growth can be expected out of him. He's a total void in the offensive zone and his decision making with the puck, particularly anywhere near either blueline or in open ice is "questionable" at best. He has the fire to compete, can skate pretty well and he likes blocking shots. But that's about it. Add in his age and penchant for getting injured and the future isn't a bright one for the former first rounder. Unless he takes some sort of inexplicable quantum leap forward next year, I would guess he's bound to remain 4th line/AHL fodder for the remainder of his career.
Minny - 86
Calgary - 84
Vancouver - 84
Colorado - 84
Edmonton - Doesn't Matter
After Columbus, the Flames play 9 straight against their divisional rivals. From the "nothing's ever easy" motif that seems to dominate this corner of the league, Im guessing all the play-off teams will basically split their series with the other play-off teams and it'll all come down to who can glean the most points from the Spoilers down the stretch. And - wouldn't you know it? - Edmonton's been walking on water recently. They're somehow the hottest team in the division with an 8-2-0 record in their last 10, and have nothing beyond pride and spite to play for. Those aren't circumstances that fill me with optimism. Because, as mentioned here on numerous occasions, Calgary isn't just jockeying for a play-off spot here: they're jockeying for position. An 8th place finish all but guarantees another humiliating 6 (or less) and out at the hands of the Red Wings. If Sutter and the boys want to win a series for the first time since the miracle run, "8th isn't good enough" has to be their attitude from now until the end of the regular season. And Im sure KLowe and MacT and T-Bird and FunBoy and R2D2 and whoever else up North would just love to hand the Flames a few losses and ensure another figurative castration at the Joe in April.
Tidbits:
- Jarome Iginla is the NHL's first star from last week. He's also been one of the best forwards in the league over the last 30 days, which isn't much of a surprise I guess. What might be though is both Dion Phaneuf and Miikka Kiprusoff have been pace setters over the last month or so as well (via Mirtle). Let's see if Phaneuf can keep it up now that he's got Bubba riding shot-gun again.
As for Miikka, here's how his SV% graph looks these days:
Slow but steady...- Yup, Rhett Warrener is injured. Again. He somehow managed to break his ankle in practice. He hasn't played since March 4th and was only averaging about 14 minutes a game when he was playing...and he's still getting hurt. Brittle as a Flake bar. Question: how do you know your athletic career is winding down? Answer: when your injury page is as long and varied as Amy Winehouse's illicit substance addiction list -
05-Jan-08 Missed 19 games (fractured leg).
29-Nov-07 Fractured leg, late January.
25-Nov-07 Leg injury, day-to-day.
13-Nov-07 Missed 4 games (throat).
03-Nov-07 Throat, day-to-day.
20-Mar-07 Missed 3 games (undisclosed).
14-Mar-07 Undisclosed injury, sidelined indefinitely.
10-Feb-07 Missed 2 games (arm injury).
06-Feb-07 Arm injury, day-to-day.
23-Dec-06 Missed 5 games (leg injury).
12-Dec-06 Leg injury, day-to-day.
28-Nov-06 Missed 1 game (hip injury).
26-Nov-06 Hip injury, day-to-day.
17-Oct-06 Missed 5 games (knee injury).
05-Oct-06 Knee injury, mid-October.
11-Apr-06 Missed 17 games (sprained MCL).
09-Mar-06 Sprained MCL, mid-April.
06-Jan-06 Missed 3 games (knee injury).
29-Dec-05 Knee injury, day-to-day.
TSN has yet to add the fractured ankle to the top there. May I suggest:
18-Mar-08 Fractured ankle (just retire already. I mean...who are you trying to kid here? Entire families performing trapeze in the circus don't get hurt this much. Knee? Hip? Leg? Ankle? Throat!? UNDISCLOSED?? Rhett, seriously...ask not for whom the gong tolls).
- Another hit to the "defensive depth" (not really though)! I find it ironic that the 03-04 run instilled in Sutter this anxiety of "not having enough defensemen" for the post-season: primarily because, so far, that has been the only year his Flames have garnered any kind of play-off success.
In fact, It could be argued that Sutter's efforts to buffer the back-end and avoid another Brennan Evans episode has actually hurt the team as much as (or more than) it's helped it the last few years (the Brad Stuart trade, signing Eriksson, hanging on to Warrener, etc.). It's particularly galling when considering some of the players Sutter has allowed to slip through his fingers during the same time frame (Toni Lydman, Mike Commodore, Mark Giordano) for little or no return.
Just imagine how much better this defense corps would be:
Regehr (4M)-Sarich (3.6M)
Phaneuf (6.5M)-Lydman (2.875M)
Commodore (2M?)-Ference (1.4M)
Giordano (800k)
total salary: 21.175M
Versus next year's probable back-end of...
Regehr (4M)-Sarich(3.6M)
Phaneuf (6.5M)-Aucoin (4M)
Eriksson (1.5M)-Warrener (2.35M)
Vandermeer? (1.5M) or Hale (700k)
total salary: 23.45M with Vandermeer or 22.65 with Hale.
Ugh. Looking at that pricey yet ineffective crew makes me want to stop worrying about the last 10 games of the season and start worrying about the summer and the start of next season instead.
- Alex Tanguay with a broken big toe. That's certainly more of a concern...not only because Tanguay is a difference maker on this team, but because his potential replacements on the "2nd line" (term employed loosely) are Wayne Primeau and Marcus Nilson. Hopefully, Alex won't actually miss any time so we won't have witness that ugly scenario. According to Inside the Flames, he's a GTD against the BJs tonight, so that's encouraging.
- The news isn't as good for Nyzerman though. Sounds like he might have a concussion after being demolished by Chicago's Adam Burish. It's probably a blessing in disguise, because Nystrom the younger, for all his effort and will to fight people he shouldn't fight, looked like a man drowning whenever he took to the ice recently.
All told, I think the Nystrom experiment this season has gone rather poorly. I was somewhat encouraged earlier in the year when he kinda looked like he might be a Stephane Yelle type player, but that quickly fell by the wayside. Eric is already 25, so not much more growth can be expected out of him. He's a total void in the offensive zone and his decision making with the puck, particularly anywhere near either blueline or in open ice is "questionable" at best. He has the fire to compete, can skate pretty well and he likes blocking shots. But that's about it. Add in his age and penchant for getting injured and the future isn't a bright one for the former first rounder. Unless he takes some sort of inexplicable quantum leap forward next year, I would guess he's bound to remain 4th line/AHL fodder for the remainder of his career.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Flames at Hawks Pregame
Nothing much to talk about except my anxiety heading into this contest. Calgary hasn't played good hockey since the all-star break and it's begun to catch up with them recently. On the other hand, the Hawks keep proving that they shouldn't be taken lightly anymore and have beat up on a couple of their last few opponents.
So after the Washington and Atlanta debacles, I can't say Im confident of a Flames victory today. The defense has looked slower and dumber than ever the last few weeks and Calgary's break-out transition game looks to be in shambles as a result. As I mentioned in the Thrashers pre-game (I think), Calgary is exposed by a fast, aggressive forecheck: if Savard chooses to send two deep all afternoon, the Flames are bound to play a large portion of the game in their end and it'll take a big effort by Kipper or Iginla to pull this one out...
Prediction - pain.
EDIT - Apparently Hale's out (for good reason) and Eriksson's in (ugh). Here's the baffling part: Keenan is playing Anders with Dion and bumping Vandermeer down to play with Aucoin (???)! Can anyone explain to me this ridiculous notion that Eriksson has to play with Phaneuf if and when he's in the line-up? Bubba has demonstrably sutrggled in the 4th d position all goddamned year...and while Vandermeer had started to look more like the depth defensemen that he is recently, he sure as hell STILL looked better than Eriksson.
Fu**!
So after the Washington and Atlanta debacles, I can't say Im confident of a Flames victory today. The defense has looked slower and dumber than ever the last few weeks and Calgary's break-out transition game looks to be in shambles as a result. As I mentioned in the Thrashers pre-game (I think), Calgary is exposed by a fast, aggressive forecheck: if Savard chooses to send two deep all afternoon, the Flames are bound to play a large portion of the game in their end and it'll take a big effort by Kipper or Iginla to pull this one out...
Prediction - pain.
EDIT - Apparently Hale's out (for good reason) and Eriksson's in (ugh). Here's the baffling part: Keenan is playing Anders with Dion and bumping Vandermeer down to play with Aucoin (???)! Can anyone explain to me this ridiculous notion that Eriksson has to play with Phaneuf if and when he's in the line-up? Bubba has demonstrably sutrggled in the 4th d position all goddamned year...and while Vandermeer had started to look more like the depth defensemen that he is recently, he sure as hell STILL looked better than Eriksson.
Fu**!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Thrashers Preview
It would make sense to predict a win tonight, wouldn't it? I mean, the Thrashers sold off Hossa at the deadline and are pretty much playing out the stretch. They're terrible at defense and their lone big gun has gone pretty cold recently (As Ilya is wont to do several times a season). They're 14th in the EC and have a GD of -47 (!). Atlanta should be cannon fodder to a team like Calgary.
"Should be" being the operative phrase...because who the fuck knows what Calgary's going to do from game to game (or even period to period)? The Flames dominated the first against the Capitals, and then were completely run over after that. They've won 7 of their last 11 games, but have been grossly out-shot (and outplayed) in probably half of them. So they might come out and club Atlanta a la the St. Louis Blues, or they might come out and just totally shit the bed a la...well, last night.
It likely depends on how much ice Jarome and the big boys can play and to what degree they'll dominate. One thing that struck me last night (as it does frequently these days) is how inadequately the Flames handle a fast, aggressive forecheck (particularly our not-so-fleet of foot defenders). I don't know if Washington got more desperate or Boudreau made adjustments, but the Caps had the Flames flailing around in their own end from the middle of the 2nd period on. They frequently had 2 forwards deep whenever the puck crossed Calgary's blueline, and their defensemen were very active in pinching and engaging Calgary's wingers when (and if) the puck finally made it's way to them. The result? shift after shift of action in Calgary's zone, usually punctuated by a scoring chance, a penalty against, or exhausted Flames skaters flipping the puck out and hurrying to change. That meant lots of PK time, lots of shots against and not a lot of quality ice for the big guns (thus the total lack of offense at ES).
I guess we have to hope the Thrashers will be too downtrodden to forecheck aggressively. Even better, maybe they'll try to trap all night.
Other stuff:
Not sure if CuJo gets the start or not. It would certainly make sense given the back-to-backness of the situation and his decent past performances. Course, Keenan might REALLY REALLY want to win this game and will put Kipper in instead (he was excellent last night despite the loss BTW).
Does Moss finally draw in instead of...err...someone? Primeau would be my pick to sit, I think. David isn't going to up the offense quotient of the Lombardi line much, but at least he can skate. Other press box candidates include Nilson and Boyd I guess, assuming Godard remains a fixture in the line-up for whatever reason.
Prediction - Flames play one good period of hockey and one terrible period of hockey.
"Should be" being the operative phrase...because who the fuck knows what Calgary's going to do from game to game (or even period to period)? The Flames dominated the first against the Capitals, and then were completely run over after that. They've won 7 of their last 11 games, but have been grossly out-shot (and outplayed) in probably half of them. So they might come out and club Atlanta a la the St. Louis Blues, or they might come out and just totally shit the bed a la...well, last night.
It likely depends on how much ice Jarome and the big boys can play and to what degree they'll dominate. One thing that struck me last night (as it does frequently these days) is how inadequately the Flames handle a fast, aggressive forecheck (particularly our not-so-fleet of foot defenders). I don't know if Washington got more desperate or Boudreau made adjustments, but the Caps had the Flames flailing around in their own end from the middle of the 2nd period on. They frequently had 2 forwards deep whenever the puck crossed Calgary's blueline, and their defensemen were very active in pinching and engaging Calgary's wingers when (and if) the puck finally made it's way to them. The result? shift after shift of action in Calgary's zone, usually punctuated by a scoring chance, a penalty against, or exhausted Flames skaters flipping the puck out and hurrying to change. That meant lots of PK time, lots of shots against and not a lot of quality ice for the big guns (thus the total lack of offense at ES).
I guess we have to hope the Thrashers will be too downtrodden to forecheck aggressively. Even better, maybe they'll try to trap all night.
Other stuff:
Not sure if CuJo gets the start or not. It would certainly make sense given the back-to-backness of the situation and his decent past performances. Course, Keenan might REALLY REALLY want to win this game and will put Kipper in instead (he was excellent last night despite the loss BTW).
Does Moss finally draw in instead of...err...someone? Primeau would be my pick to sit, I think. David isn't going to up the offense quotient of the Lombardi line much, but at least he can skate. Other press box candidates include Nilson and Boyd I guess, assuming Godard remains a fixture in the line-up for whatever reason.
Prediction - Flames play one good period of hockey and one terrible period of hockey.
Godard Pounds on Erskine
Probably the best part about last night. Let's just forget about the rest, shall we?
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Caps Pregame
I was going to leave the the prior post up as the "game thread", but that seemed a tad too lazy. I barely mention the Capitals in that one after all.
I've been cheering for the Caps for awhile now. Washington's turn-around since the installation of Boudreau has been one of the best stories of the season, no to mention Ovechkin signing the biggest contract in NHL history and then playing like he's worth it.
It's hard not to really, really like the affable young sniper. Beyond being a phenomenal offensive talent, he practically brims with a child-like enthusiasm whenever he's on the ice. He's a lot of fun to watch on a number of levels.
Anyways, the Caps are 7 points back of a play-off spot with just over 10 games to play; their post-season aspirations were all but snuffed out by the hockey gods this weekend. But don't expect them to accept that reality willingly or without a fight. I assume Ovie and co. are going to come out like cornered, rabid dogs this evening. No free lunch tonight, evening considering the relatively quality of the SE division.
On the other hand, the Flames will want to build on the offensive explosion they experienced against the Blues. Scoring goals had become something of an issue before last game and now with Lombo's and Juice's big droughts punctured, the Flames should look to keep the bounces going against a decidedly mediocre (defensively speaking) opponent.
On the line: first in the NW for Calgary (and, more importantly, 3rd in the conference) vs. potential play-off spot for Washington. BONUS - Hart trophy match-up between Alex and Jarome. I would say Ovechkin leads that race, but a hot Iginla down the stretch and the Caps falling out of play-off contention could turn the tide.
Prediction - Flames 4, Capitals 2. Iginla, Langkow, Lombardi and Nolan for the Calgary. Ovechkin and Semin for Washington.
Go Flames.
I've been cheering for the Caps for awhile now. Washington's turn-around since the installation of Boudreau has been one of the best stories of the season, no to mention Ovechkin signing the biggest contract in NHL history and then playing like he's worth it.
It's hard not to really, really like the affable young sniper. Beyond being a phenomenal offensive talent, he practically brims with a child-like enthusiasm whenever he's on the ice. He's a lot of fun to watch on a number of levels.
Anyways, the Caps are 7 points back of a play-off spot with just over 10 games to play; their post-season aspirations were all but snuffed out by the hockey gods this weekend. But don't expect them to accept that reality willingly or without a fight. I assume Ovie and co. are going to come out like cornered, rabid dogs this evening. No free lunch tonight, evening considering the relatively quality of the SE division.
On the other hand, the Flames will want to build on the offensive explosion they experienced against the Blues. Scoring goals had become something of an issue before last game and now with Lombo's and Juice's big droughts punctured, the Flames should look to keep the bounces going against a decidedly mediocre (defensively speaking) opponent.
On the line: first in the NW for Calgary (and, more importantly, 3rd in the conference) vs. potential play-off spot for Washington. BONUS - Hart trophy match-up between Alex and Jarome. I would say Ovechkin leads that race, but a hot Iginla down the stretch and the Caps falling out of play-off contention could turn the tide.
Prediction - Flames 4, Capitals 2. Iginla, Langkow, Lombardi and Nolan for the Calgary. Ovechkin and Semin for Washington.
Go Flames.
Considering Pre and Post December Records
Commenter Greg requested something of a retroactive "standings update" for the Flames a couple of posts ago. To that end, I took a look at Calgary's Pre and Post December 1st records:
Pre-Dec.1: 10-13-3. 70GF, 79GA, -9GD. 2.67 GF/G, 3.03 GA/G. 38% win percentage.
Post Dec.1: 26-10-7. 122GF, 108GA, +14 GD. 2.84 GF/G, 2.51 GA/G. 60% win percentage.
The Flames were average in October and abysmal in November. Their goaltending and PK% ranked among the very worst in the league (thus the terrible GA per game average) by November 30.
Since then, the Flames have improved the PK (Kipper and Regehr turned things around) and goal out-put (even though the PP has gotten steadily worse as the season has progressed).
That apres November record looks pretty good, but how does it compare to the other WC contenders**?
Detroit post-Dec.1: 29-12-4, 64% win percentage.
Dallas post-Dec.1: 29-16-1, 63% win percentage.
San Jose post-Dec.1: 29-13-4, 63% win percentage.
Anaheim post-Dec.1: 27-14-4, 60% win percentage.
Minny post-Dec.1: 23-17-5, 51% win percentage.
**(Im going to to skip doing the GF/GA stuff for the other teams. Because I frankly can't be bothered with it).
So Calgary has lost the least amount of regulation games of the teams considered, which is a good sign. If the Flames were a little better at OT and the SO, their record would be even more impressive...
Curiosity - Is it concerning or merely odd that Calgary only made modest gains in terms of GD after November? They were -9 on December 1 and are only +5 now. I guess that's what a bottom third PP will get you, even if you're managing to win more than you lose...
For fun, and since they're this evening's opponent, let's do the Caps:
Pre-Dec.1: 8-16-2, 31% win percent.
Post-Dec.1: 24-14-6, 55% win percent.
Not too shabby. It would actually be closer to 59% if Brashear hadn't blown a gasket against Boston and Backstrom hadn't scored on his own net** against the Pens this weekend.
**(The young rookie could be heard lamenting in the dressing room afterwards, "like flies to wanton boys we are to the hockey gods...". Except, in Swedish.)
Pre-Dec.1: 10-13-3. 70GF, 79GA, -9GD. 2.67 GF/G, 3.03 GA/G. 38% win percentage.
Post Dec.1: 26-10-7. 122GF, 108GA, +14 GD. 2.84 GF/G, 2.51 GA/G. 60% win percentage.
The Flames were average in October and abysmal in November. Their goaltending and PK% ranked among the very worst in the league (thus the terrible GA per game average) by November 30.
Since then, the Flames have improved the PK (Kipper and Regehr turned things around) and goal out-put (even though the PP has gotten steadily worse as the season has progressed).
That apres November record looks pretty good, but how does it compare to the other WC contenders**?
Detroit post-Dec.1: 29-12-4, 64% win percentage.
Dallas post-Dec.1: 29-16-1, 63% win percentage.
San Jose post-Dec.1: 29-13-4, 63% win percentage.
Anaheim post-Dec.1: 27-14-4, 60% win percentage.
Minny post-Dec.1: 23-17-5, 51% win percentage.
**(Im going to to skip doing the GF/GA stuff for the other teams. Because I frankly can't be bothered with it).
So Calgary has lost the least amount of regulation games of the teams considered, which is a good sign. If the Flames were a little better at OT and the SO, their record would be even more impressive...
Curiosity - Is it concerning or merely odd that Calgary only made modest gains in terms of GD after November? They were -9 on December 1 and are only +5 now. I guess that's what a bottom third PP will get you, even if you're managing to win more than you lose...
For fun, and since they're this evening's opponent, let's do the Caps:
Pre-Dec.1: 8-16-2, 31% win percent.
Post-Dec.1: 24-14-6, 55% win percent.
Not too shabby. It would actually be closer to 59% if Brashear hadn't blown a gasket against Boston and Backstrom hadn't scored on his own net** against the Pens this weekend.
**(The young rookie could be heard lamenting in the dressing room afterwards, "like flies to wanton boys we are to the hockey gods...". Except, in Swedish.)
Highlight of the Year
Yes. YES!! I was hoping someone would youtube the Kipper/Rucinsky thing.
**BONUS fast-edits and glitchy techno music! This clip has it all...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
A Red Letter Day
I hope some of you recorded the game last night. Here's a list of improbable achievements that occurred:
- Jarome Iginla's franchise leading 365th goal.
- Eric Godard's first assist of the season on a scoring play involving Marcus Nilson and Dustin Boyd (the tri-fecta of unlikely).
- Kritain Huselius busts a 20+ game scoring slump.
- Matthew Lombardi busts a 20+ game scoring slump.
- Kipper snaps and tosses a puck into Martin Rucinsky's pouty gob.
- Flames win the special teams battle (1 PPG, 2 SHG).
- Alex Tanguay ties for the team lead in shots (6).
- Matthew Lombardi leads all forwards in ice-time.
- Flames score 7 goals on home ice.
- Flames beat up a lesser opponent at a crucial time of the year.
Yup. Good way to head out onto the road.
- Jarome Iginla's franchise leading 365th goal.
- Eric Godard's first assist of the season on a scoring play involving Marcus Nilson and Dustin Boyd (the tri-fecta of unlikely).
- Kritain Huselius busts a 20+ game scoring slump.
- Matthew Lombardi busts a 20+ game scoring slump.
- Kipper snaps and tosses a puck into Martin Rucinsky's pouty gob.
- Flames win the special teams battle (1 PPG, 2 SHG).
- Alex Tanguay ties for the team lead in shots (6).
- Matthew Lombardi leads all forwards in ice-time.
- Flames score 7 goals on home ice.
- Flames beat up a lesser opponent at a crucial time of the year.
Yup. Good way to head out onto the road.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Calgary Blues Preview
- The Flames are officially 6-2-2 in their last 10 games.
- Despite the decent record, the Flames scored just 20 goals over that span and were cumulatively out-shot 334-239 (-95). Bright-side? Kipper is back and the Flames are winning despite not really playing that well. Dark-side?...uh...Flames aren't really playing that well.
- Moss back in the line-up. That probably means Nystrom will be a healthy scratch. According to recent practice lines, Moss will be playing on a line with Yelle and Lombardi. Conroy is back with Nolan and Tanguay. If only there was some way to convince Keenan to flip those two centers...
- One of Lombo or Huselius has to score tonight. This is getting ridiculous.
- The Blues looked promising at season's start but have really fallen off in the latter half of the year. Offense seems to be their achilles heel.
- Calgary's PP is an abomination. At home at least. Too static, too predictable, too flaccid. Bad ice and scorers suffering through long slumps sure haven't helped anything.
- I have a bye this week in Mirtle's Blogger pool. Im battling for a "consolation prize" now that we've moved into the play-off format. Both Stempniak and Tanguay are on my roster. I'll bet you anything both of them get on the scoresheet tonight.
Prediction - Flames win a 2-1 Snoozefest. Huselius and Tanguay for Calgary. Stempniak for the Blues.
Go Flames.
- Despite the decent record, the Flames scored just 20 goals over that span and were cumulatively out-shot 334-239 (-95). Bright-side? Kipper is back and the Flames are winning despite not really playing that well. Dark-side?...uh...Flames aren't really playing that well.
- Moss back in the line-up. That probably means Nystrom will be a healthy scratch. According to recent practice lines, Moss will be playing on a line with Yelle and Lombardi. Conroy is back with Nolan and Tanguay. If only there was some way to convince Keenan to flip those two centers...
- One of Lombo or Huselius has to score tonight. This is getting ridiculous.
- The Blues looked promising at season's start but have really fallen off in the latter half of the year. Offense seems to be their achilles heel.
- Calgary's PP is an abomination. At home at least. Too static, too predictable, too flaccid. Bad ice and scorers suffering through long slumps sure haven't helped anything.
- I have a bye this week in Mirtle's Blogger pool. Im battling for a "consolation prize" now that we've moved into the play-off format. Both Stempniak and Tanguay are on my roster. I'll bet you anything both of them get on the scoresheet tonight.
Prediction - Flames win a 2-1 Snoozefest. Huselius and Tanguay for Calgary. Stempniak for the Blues.
Go Flames.
Two-Face
A friend of mine recently brought to my attention the statistical superiority of Road Iggy versus Home Iggy this year. Check it out:
Home Iggy: 36 GP, 16g-19a-35p, +8 - 0.972 PPG pace.
Road Iggy: 32 GP, 24g-20a-44p, +17 (!) - 1.375 PPG pace.
It's not even close. The difference is further highlighted by Scott Cruickshank today when he mentions that Calgary has the 7th best PP as the visitors...and the 29th (!!) best PP as the hosts. So either the Flames have been consistently playing vastly superior competition at the Dome this year or something is up with Jarome and co.
Any guesses? Iginla prefers the tougher match-ups? Pregnant wife and new child keep him up at night? Palpable Fan pressure/expectations? A voo-doo curse?
The good news is, most of the Flames remaining games are away from home (including another trip to the wonderful SE division).
Home Iggy: 36 GP, 16g-19a-35p, +8 - 0.972 PPG pace.
Road Iggy: 32 GP, 24g-20a-44p, +17 (!) - 1.375 PPG pace.
It's not even close. The difference is further highlighted by Scott Cruickshank today when he mentions that Calgary has the 7th best PP as the visitors...and the 29th (!!) best PP as the hosts. So either the Flames have been consistently playing vastly superior competition at the Dome this year or something is up with Jarome and co.
Any guesses? Iginla prefers the tougher match-ups? Pregnant wife and new child keep him up at night? Palpable Fan pressure/expectations? A voo-doo curse?
The good news is, most of the Flames remaining games are away from home (including another trip to the wonderful SE division).
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Oh fer the love of...
Lt. Warf reacts to Aucoin's OT blunder. Not a very honorable performance, Adrian.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Preds @ Flames Pregame
Hey! We're in first place and we haven't really been playing that well! Yeah! Or something...
With the Wild losing to the suddenly surging Carolina Hurricanes (Joe Corvo can turn a season around...who knew?), the Flames suddenly sit in SOLE POSSESSION of first in the NW division and 3rd in the conference. Course, the difference between 3rd and 9th is all of three points right now.
And it could be even less after tonight. The Nashville Predators are the opposition tonight and they currently reside in 9th place with 76 points. With a win, the Preds could temporarily vault themselves into the play-off hunt with Vancouver (76 points) and Colorado (78 points).
What a clusterf***.
Calgary played like shit last game and only won thanks to some decent PKing and Kiprusoff. They were thoroughly outmatched by the Columbus Blue Jackets on home ice, despite the obvious urgency of the tightening play-off race staring them in the face. Yesterday, Keenan kicked the players of the ice in the middle of practice due to "lack of focus". This same crap happened with Nervous Jimmy last year and the team backed it's way into a play-off spot by losing every single regulation game in April (Sutter cracked the whip in Mid March, but the effect proved transient). The good news is, Jimmy's not in charge anymore and Keenan isn't going to puss out like ol' Canaryshirt did. Who knows if it will have any real effect on the ice, but at least Iron Mike refuses to "go gently into that good night".
The opposition tonight is also a tough team to figure out. They've had a pretty decent record since the new year, but still tend to have games (like last nights) where the the defensive zone seems like a totally foreign territory to their players. Chris Mason and and Dan Ellis have been playing the "who can get pulled in the first period more often?" game for awhile as well. One guy will become "#1" for a week or so, then allow 3 or 4 goals in the first 10 shots, giving way to the next guy till he does the same thing a week or so later. It's frustrating as hell for someone stuck with Mason in Mirtle's blogger pool, so I can imagine how Preds fans feel about it.
That said, Nashville is still a dangerous squad. The Arnott, Dumont and Radulov line has been eating the lesser lights for breakfast since it came together, so watch out for that trio tonight.
Flames line-up notes: Sarich likely back in, at the expense of either Warrener or Hale (please let it be Warrener!). Moss still hurt as far as I know, but has been practicing. Im sure Nilson will be healthy scratch again - again not for any clear reason. Therefore expect the forward lines to be unchanged.
Prediction - Flames 3, Preds 2. Iginla, Huselius and Tanguay for Calgary. Fiddler and Weber for Nashville.
Go Flames.
With the Wild losing to the suddenly surging Carolina Hurricanes (Joe Corvo can turn a season around...who knew?), the Flames suddenly sit in SOLE POSSESSION of first in the NW division and 3rd in the conference. Course, the difference between 3rd and 9th is all of three points right now.
And it could be even less after tonight. The Nashville Predators are the opposition tonight and they currently reside in 9th place with 76 points. With a win, the Preds could temporarily vault themselves into the play-off hunt with Vancouver (76 points) and Colorado (78 points).
What a clusterf***.
Calgary played like shit last game and only won thanks to some decent PKing and Kiprusoff. They were thoroughly outmatched by the Columbus Blue Jackets on home ice, despite the obvious urgency of the tightening play-off race staring them in the face. Yesterday, Keenan kicked the players of the ice in the middle of practice due to "lack of focus". This same crap happened with Nervous Jimmy last year and the team backed it's way into a play-off spot by losing every single regulation game in April (Sutter cracked the whip in Mid March, but the effect proved transient). The good news is, Jimmy's not in charge anymore and Keenan isn't going to puss out like ol' Canaryshirt did. Who knows if it will have any real effect on the ice, but at least Iron Mike refuses to "go gently into that good night".
The opposition tonight is also a tough team to figure out. They've had a pretty decent record since the new year, but still tend to have games (like last nights) where the the defensive zone seems like a totally foreign territory to their players. Chris Mason and and Dan Ellis have been playing the "who can get pulled in the first period more often?" game for awhile as well. One guy will become "#1" for a week or so, then allow 3 or 4 goals in the first 10 shots, giving way to the next guy till he does the same thing a week or so later. It's frustrating as hell for someone stuck with Mason in Mirtle's blogger pool, so I can imagine how Preds fans feel about it.
That said, Nashville is still a dangerous squad. The Arnott, Dumont and Radulov line has been eating the lesser lights for breakfast since it came together, so watch out for that trio tonight.
Flames line-up notes: Sarich likely back in, at the expense of either Warrener or Hale (please let it be Warrener!). Moss still hurt as far as I know, but has been practicing. Im sure Nilson will be healthy scratch again - again not for any clear reason. Therefore expect the forward lines to be unchanged.
Prediction - Flames 3, Preds 2. Iginla, Huselius and Tanguay for Calgary. Fiddler and Weber for Nashville.
Go Flames.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Matthew Lombardi, Mike Tyson and a Manatee
I've wracked my brains for something to write about the last couple of days and come up with nothing besides a parodic screenplay of Keenan grilling the players that will probably never make it to the blog. As such, Im forced to present my mental flotsam and jetsam, in no particular order.
1.) In defense of Matthew Lombardi. Or rather, in defense of my continued defense of Matthew Lombardi. I've posited more than once on here that Lombardi's apparently bad season can be attributed to situational rather than individual causes. His counting numbers suck (10 goals, 28 points, -7) as do many of his advanced stats (-3.9 CORSI, 1.53 ESP/60, ES +21, ES -31), so it's a bit of a tough task. But here goes.
The problem with the Flames is the bottom of the forward roster is a complete wasteland. There are 2 rookies that can barely hold their heads above water most nights (one of whom couldn't shoot a puck in the ocean from the beach), a litany of fringe vets (Primeau, Godard, Smith, Nilson) who vary from "slow" to "excruciatingly slow" and have the puck skills of a well-mashed rutabaga, a slowing PK specialist who was never one for the offense even at his peak, a sophomore suffering from the same affliction as Eric Nystrom -- and Matthew Lombardi. This sorry collection (excepting Lombo) has played 344 games combined this year, scored 18 goals and 47 points with a sum +/- rating of -43. Lombardi, as mentioned, has 10 goals and 28 points in 67 games by himself so far. In short, Lombardi is the Dark Helmet of the Calgary Flames; he's surrounded by assholes...
His QUALTEAM rating on behindthenet is -0.39. Only the perpetual forth-liners have a lower rating.
That's not the extent of Lombo's rough ride this year. Besides the lack of decent linemates, he's also had to deal with a lack of quality ice-time: he's averaged just a minute of PP time per game, which ranks him 12th on the Flames in that regard. He plays a lot on the PK, not the most offense rich environment, and a bunch at ES with aforementioned assholes (who can forget the ill-fated kid line of Lombo, Nystrom and Boyd that Keenan sent out to get sodomized night-in and night-out for about a 6 week period?). On top of all that, no center starts off more in his own zone than Lombardi. According to timeonice.com, Lombardi has taken more defensive zone draws (210) than offensive zone draws (207) at ES this year. Contrast that to Langkow (-60) and Conroy (-3), despite the fact that Craig has been Keenan's "shut-down" guy for a large portion of the season. Stephane Yelle is the only other regular skater who scores above Lombardi by this metric (+24), and they've been playing together a lot recently.
Bigger brains than mine over at Irreverent Oiler Fans have been talking about the relevance of face-offs position recently. Basically, coaches will try to get offensive guys out for offensive zone draws and vice versa. This is bad news for Lombo in a couple of ways: first, it means he's starting out in his own zone more frequently, which means an increased probability of suffering shots/chances against during your shift. Secondly, it means he's typically facing the opposition's offensive players to start the play. Add in the quality of his line-mates and the reduced probability of getting the play back up into the offensive zone, and you have his shitty CORSI and plus/minus stats.
The difference between his offensive and defensive zone draws isn't huge, so I think it's mainly an artifact of Keenan favoring the other centers/lines for offensive zone draws and leaving him the dregs (neutral zone/defensive zone draws). This is likely a consequence of the Flames lacking a true shut-down trio, in the "Nothing Line" sense of the term. If Conroy was instead skating with Yelle and _________ (insert warm body here), one could reasonably expect that combination to take the lion's share of own-zone draws, leaving Lombardi/Tanguay/Nolan to soak up the attacking zone face-offs left behind by Iginla and company.
As it stands currently, however, Keenan is left trying to match-up Conroy's line with the stronger opposition WHILE simultaneously trying to get them out for offensive zone draws. That's the paradox of having a scoring line which is also a de facto shut-down unit. Iginla and Langkow can take all comers, but they are frequently reserved for the better opportunities at the happy end of the rink, because they stand the best chance of taking advantage of it (and Langkow is TERRIBLE at face-offs as well). That leaves Lombardi to twist in the wind with Yelle and whoever: they can't reasonably be expected to shut-down the competition but neither can they be expected to outscore them. Hell, Im sure even Iginla would have a hard time outscoring the bad guys starting more often than not in his own end with Primeau/Moss/Nystrom and Yelle as his linemates. It's a bloody tough gig and it's setting Lombardi up for failure.
2.) Watching the Senators play right now is a lot like watching the Titanic sink slowly into the cold, black waters of the Atlantic. And apparently Martin Gerber would be more adapted to survive if the Sens happened to literally sink into the ocean.
3.) I put the whammy on Lee Stempniak, the poor bastard. I chose him in two of my 3 hockey pools, fully expecting him to score 30 this year.
After managing 20+ goals the last two seasons and being one of the Blues higher goal getters since his rookie year, the man who inspired "Stempniaked!" has just 11 goals this season and is barely averaging 10 minutes of ice-time per night these days. Perhaps he's been getting "Lombardied" by coach Andy Murray?
4.) Is anyone else cheering for the Capitals to make the play-offs? Besides it being a nice win for a beleaguered franchise, can you imagine how frenetic Ovechkin would be in the post-season? They might have to run him around the rink BEFORE the game like Don King used to have to do with Mike Tyson before fights.
1.) In defense of Matthew Lombardi. Or rather, in defense of my continued defense of Matthew Lombardi. I've posited more than once on here that Lombardi's apparently bad season can be attributed to situational rather than individual causes. His counting numbers suck (10 goals, 28 points, -7) as do many of his advanced stats (-3.9 CORSI, 1.53 ESP/60, ES +21, ES -31), so it's a bit of a tough task. But here goes.
The problem with the Flames is the bottom of the forward roster is a complete wasteland. There are 2 rookies that can barely hold their heads above water most nights (one of whom couldn't shoot a puck in the ocean from the beach), a litany of fringe vets (Primeau, Godard, Smith, Nilson) who vary from "slow" to "excruciatingly slow" and have the puck skills of a well-mashed rutabaga, a slowing PK specialist who was never one for the offense even at his peak, a sophomore suffering from the same affliction as Eric Nystrom -- and Matthew Lombardi. This sorry collection (excepting Lombo) has played 344 games combined this year, scored 18 goals and 47 points with a sum +/- rating of -43. Lombardi, as mentioned, has 10 goals and 28 points in 67 games by himself so far. In short, Lombardi is the Dark Helmet of the Calgary Flames; he's surrounded by assholes...
His QUALTEAM rating on behindthenet is -0.39. Only the perpetual forth-liners have a lower rating.
That's not the extent of Lombo's rough ride this year. Besides the lack of decent linemates, he's also had to deal with a lack of quality ice-time: he's averaged just a minute of PP time per game, which ranks him 12th on the Flames in that regard. He plays a lot on the PK, not the most offense rich environment, and a bunch at ES with aforementioned assholes (who can forget the ill-fated kid line of Lombo, Nystrom and Boyd that Keenan sent out to get sodomized night-in and night-out for about a 6 week period?). On top of all that, no center starts off more in his own zone than Lombardi. According to timeonice.com, Lombardi has taken more defensive zone draws (210) than offensive zone draws (207) at ES this year. Contrast that to Langkow (-60) and Conroy (-3), despite the fact that Craig has been Keenan's "shut-down" guy for a large portion of the season. Stephane Yelle is the only other regular skater who scores above Lombardi by this metric (+24), and they've been playing together a lot recently.
Bigger brains than mine over at Irreverent Oiler Fans have been talking about the relevance of face-offs position recently. Basically, coaches will try to get offensive guys out for offensive zone draws and vice versa. This is bad news for Lombo in a couple of ways: first, it means he's starting out in his own zone more frequently, which means an increased probability of suffering shots/chances against during your shift. Secondly, it means he's typically facing the opposition's offensive players to start the play. Add in the quality of his line-mates and the reduced probability of getting the play back up into the offensive zone, and you have his shitty CORSI and plus/minus stats.
The difference between his offensive and defensive zone draws isn't huge, so I think it's mainly an artifact of Keenan favoring the other centers/lines for offensive zone draws and leaving him the dregs (neutral zone/defensive zone draws). This is likely a consequence of the Flames lacking a true shut-down trio, in the "Nothing Line" sense of the term. If Conroy was instead skating with Yelle and _________ (insert warm body here), one could reasonably expect that combination to take the lion's share of own-zone draws, leaving Lombardi/Tanguay/Nolan to soak up the attacking zone face-offs left behind by Iginla and company.
As it stands currently, however, Keenan is left trying to match-up Conroy's line with the stronger opposition WHILE simultaneously trying to get them out for offensive zone draws. That's the paradox of having a scoring line which is also a de facto shut-down unit. Iginla and Langkow can take all comers, but they are frequently reserved for the better opportunities at the happy end of the rink, because they stand the best chance of taking advantage of it (and Langkow is TERRIBLE at face-offs as well). That leaves Lombardi to twist in the wind with Yelle and whoever: they can't reasonably be expected to shut-down the competition but neither can they be expected to outscore them. Hell, Im sure even Iginla would have a hard time outscoring the bad guys starting more often than not in his own end with Primeau/Moss/Nystrom and Yelle as his linemates. It's a bloody tough gig and it's setting Lombardi up for failure.
2.) Watching the Senators play right now is a lot like watching the Titanic sink slowly into the cold, black waters of the Atlantic. And apparently Martin Gerber would be more adapted to survive if the Sens happened to literally sink into the ocean.
3.) I put the whammy on Lee Stempniak, the poor bastard. I chose him in two of my 3 hockey pools, fully expecting him to score 30 this year.
After managing 20+ goals the last two seasons and being one of the Blues higher goal getters since his rookie year, the man who inspired "Stempniaked!" has just 11 goals this season and is barely averaging 10 minutes of ice-time per night these days. Perhaps he's been getting "Lombardied" by coach Andy Murray?
4.) Is anyone else cheering for the Capitals to make the play-offs? Besides it being a nice win for a beleaguered franchise, can you imagine how frenetic Ovechkin would be in the post-season? They might have to run him around the rink BEFORE the game like Don King used to have to do with Mike Tyson before fights.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Columbus @ Calgary Preview
Columbus is in town tonight. I dont have much to say, except for these are the teams the Flames need to beat during this stretch drive: a lesser club who sold at the deadline and is playing out the stretch.
I was informed in the comments section below that Conroy has mysteriously recovered from his mysterious knee ailment and will in fact be in the line-up tonight. Tanguay is also expected to return after missing 3 games and Cory Sarich has ditched the face shield (although it's an open question whether he's actually going to dress or not).
Hail, hail - the gang's all here.
The flu has likely run it's course and one can reasonably expect the Flames are over that nasty bout of "the posts" that also afflicted them recently. The karmic bounces that delivered them wins in Dallas, San Jose and Minnesota previously have hopefully been paid back. In spades.
However, a win is anything but guaranteed this evening. The BJ's don't completely suck *rimshot*. Rich Nash continues to blossom into a superstar while Nicholai Zherdev has taken a few steps forward after his dreadful season from last year. Mike Peca is a toothy little puke that only scores with every lunar eclipse, but he can still get the job done in the defensive end of the ice. Pascal Leclaire is having a hell of break-out year as well, though one wonders to what degree Hitchcock's defensive systems can take credit for that.
Weaknesses? not much scoring depth beyond the first line, lots of youngsters in the line-up and a pretty unimpressive defense corps. If the Flames can minimize the damage done by Nash and co and take advantage of the lesser lights in the bottom 6 and on the back-end, they should win this one.
Prediction - Flames 5, Columbus 2. Iginla, HUSELIUS, LOMBARDI, Langkow and Phaneuf for Calgary. Nash, Malholtra for the BJs.
Go Flames.
I was informed in the comments section below that Conroy has mysteriously recovered from his mysterious knee ailment and will in fact be in the line-up tonight. Tanguay is also expected to return after missing 3 games and Cory Sarich has ditched the face shield (although it's an open question whether he's actually going to dress or not).
Hail, hail - the gang's all here.
The flu has likely run it's course and one can reasonably expect the Flames are over that nasty bout of "the posts" that also afflicted them recently. The karmic bounces that delivered them wins in Dallas, San Jose and Minnesota previously have hopefully been paid back. In spades.
However, a win is anything but guaranteed this evening. The BJ's don't completely suck *rimshot*. Rich Nash continues to blossom into a superstar while Nicholai Zherdev has taken a few steps forward after his dreadful season from last year. Mike Peca is a toothy little puke that only scores with every lunar eclipse, but he can still get the job done in the defensive end of the ice. Pascal Leclaire is having a hell of break-out year as well, though one wonders to what degree Hitchcock's defensive systems can take credit for that.
Weaknesses? not much scoring depth beyond the first line, lots of youngsters in the line-up and a pretty unimpressive defense corps. If the Flames can minimize the damage done by Nash and co and take advantage of the lesser lights in the bottom 6 and on the back-end, they should win this one.
Prediction - Flames 5, Columbus 2. Iginla, HUSELIUS, LOMBARDI, Langkow and Phaneuf for Calgary. Nash, Malholtra for the BJs.
Go Flames.
A humble request
Alright Matthew. Tonight's the night. I've defended you tirelessly the last couple seasons. Your counting numbers this year are middling and your underlying stats range from bad to terrible. But I have faith. Which is to say, I think you could do better in different circumstances.
Let's face it, you're not the type of guy that can drive results single-handedly. You're not going to turn mediocre line-mates into stars and you can't act as a mentor or crutch to fresh-faced rookies. That's the hand you've been dealt recently. And, unfortunately, you've had to fold more often than not.
But now Craig Conroy's out with a knee-injury for awhile. And, starting with the game this evening, you can prove that you've been a victim of circumstance; that under the right conditions, you can contribute and flourish. Word is, you practiced with Tanguay and Nolan yesterday. Perfect. Peca will be facing Iggy and Adam Foote fled back to Colorado. The BJs went into sell mode at the deadline and are pretty much just playing out the stretch. They're ripe for the picking. You've hit 3 posts in the last games without the benefit of strong line-mates or PP time. It's time to start putting those chances in. There will never be a better opportunity to grab a scoring position on this club.
Please make the most of it.
Let's face it, you're not the type of guy that can drive results single-handedly. You're not going to turn mediocre line-mates into stars and you can't act as a mentor or crutch to fresh-faced rookies. That's the hand you've been dealt recently. And, unfortunately, you've had to fold more often than not.
But now Craig Conroy's out with a knee-injury for awhile. And, starting with the game this evening, you can prove that you've been a victim of circumstance; that under the right conditions, you can contribute and flourish. Word is, you practiced with Tanguay and Nolan yesterday. Perfect. Peca will be facing Iggy and Adam Foote fled back to Colorado. The BJs went into sell mode at the deadline and are pretty much just playing out the stretch. They're ripe for the picking. You've hit 3 posts in the last games without the benefit of strong line-mates or PP time. It's time to start putting those chances in. There will never be a better opportunity to grab a scoring position on this club.
Please make the most of it.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Sweet 16
After the (very strange) win over the Coyotes, the Flames have 77 points in 66 games played. They are a couple back of the Minnesota Wild for the division lead and three up on the Canucks, who have a game in hand. Colorado and Nashville are also within striking distance (74 points each, 66 games played).
Assuming a 94 point threshold to make the post-season, the Flames need 17 points or a record of 8-7-1 in their final 16 games to qualify. Of course, a lot will depend on how Vancouver and Colorado play down the stretch as well.
Here's the sched for the rest of the regular season:
March -
Coyotes - 3-1 W
Blue Jackets
Preds
Blues
Capitals
Thrashers
Blackhawks
Blue Jackets
Avalanche
Wild
Avalanche
Canucks
Oilers
Canucks
April -
Oilers
Wild
Canucks
The good news: Minnesota, highlighted above, is the only opponent remaining that currently has more points in the standings than Calgary - and the Flames have had their number all year for whatever reason. Really, the schedule couldn't be much softer and the chances of cutting a 8-7-1 (or better) swath through that group are pretty good.
The bad news: As I've mentioned before, lots and lots of divisional matches to end the year. The Flames are an "okay" 11-8-4 against the NW this year and will be facing desperate Canucks and Avs teams to finish the season. If they go completely limp like they did last April, chances are the play-offs will begin (and end I suppose) without them.
Encouraging news: I think the team has looked good lately, although they haven't really had the results to show for it. That despite illness and injury to some top players and a spate of bad luck the likes of which I don't think I've ever seen before. I mean, how many posts - including posts on EMPTY NETS - have the Flames hit recently? It'd take more than one hand to cout them all, that's for sure.
Also, Jarome Iginla has looked like the Jarome of December since late February. He simply dominated the Coyotes last game and has been more of handful for the opposition the last couple of games. Iginla's now an impressive +31 a ES this year, and full 10 marks ahead of the closest skater (Alex Tanguay at +21). Imagine where that number would be if Huselius hadn't hit 10 posts last month...
Im liking where the team seems to be headed, although I still have minor quibbles about roster management: I'd still like to see a Lombardi/Tanguay scoring line behind Iginla and a Conroy/Yelle shut-down line taking on the tougher assignments. But that's just me. That said, Jim Vandermeer has been a welcome addition and has justified my continued dislike and damning of the Eriksson signing. Anders in the pressbox beside Warrener (Sarich benching notwithstanding) gets a big thumbs-up from me. On a possibly related note, Dion Phaneuf has looked every bit like the future star he promises to be since his contract extension...
Anyways, onwards and upwards. Things are about to get very interesting. I'm very much looking forward to the upcoming excursion to the SE division. Im sure the incredibly snake-bitten Kristian Huselius is too.
EDIT - The Forechecker has more interesting thoughts on the post-deadline schedule. He concludes the Flames have the easiest path to the post-season out of any of the NW division teams. Check it out.
Assuming a 94 point threshold to make the post-season, the Flames need 17 points or a record of 8-7-1 in their final 16 games to qualify. Of course, a lot will depend on how Vancouver and Colorado play down the stretch as well.
Here's the sched for the rest of the regular season:
March -
Coyotes - 3-1 W
Blue Jackets
Preds
Blues
Capitals
Thrashers
Blackhawks
Blue Jackets
Avalanche
Wild
Avalanche
Canucks
Oilers
Canucks
April -
Oilers
Wild
Canucks
The good news: Minnesota, highlighted above, is the only opponent remaining that currently has more points in the standings than Calgary - and the Flames have had their number all year for whatever reason. Really, the schedule couldn't be much softer and the chances of cutting a 8-7-1 (or better) swath through that group are pretty good.
The bad news: As I've mentioned before, lots and lots of divisional matches to end the year. The Flames are an "okay" 11-8-4 against the NW this year and will be facing desperate Canucks and Avs teams to finish the season. If they go completely limp like they did last April, chances are the play-offs will begin (and end I suppose) without them.
Encouraging news: I think the team has looked good lately, although they haven't really had the results to show for it. That despite illness and injury to some top players and a spate of bad luck the likes of which I don't think I've ever seen before. I mean, how many posts - including posts on EMPTY NETS - have the Flames hit recently? It'd take more than one hand to cout them all, that's for sure.
Also, Jarome Iginla has looked like the Jarome of December since late February. He simply dominated the Coyotes last game and has been more of handful for the opposition the last couple of games. Iginla's now an impressive +31 a ES this year, and full 10 marks ahead of the closest skater (Alex Tanguay at +21). Imagine where that number would be if Huselius hadn't hit 10 posts last month...
Im liking where the team seems to be headed, although I still have minor quibbles about roster management: I'd still like to see a Lombardi/Tanguay scoring line behind Iginla and a Conroy/Yelle shut-down line taking on the tougher assignments. But that's just me. That said, Jim Vandermeer has been a welcome addition and has justified my continued dislike and damning of the Eriksson signing. Anders in the pressbox beside Warrener (Sarich benching notwithstanding) gets a big thumbs-up from me. On a possibly related note, Dion Phaneuf has looked every bit like the future star he promises to be since his contract extension...
Anyways, onwards and upwards. Things are about to get very interesting. I'm very much looking forward to the upcoming excursion to the SE division. Im sure the incredibly snake-bitten Kristian Huselius is too.
EDIT - The Forechecker has more interesting thoughts on the post-deadline schedule. He concludes the Flames have the easiest path to the post-season out of any of the NW division teams. Check it out.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Flames and Coyotes Pregame
It's been an odd couple weeks in Flames land. Calgary's won a couple games that they should have lost (SJS, DET, DAL) and lost a couple of game they probably should have won (COL, ANA). Frankly, it's hard to decide which trend to find encouraging.
First couple of minutes aside, I thought the Flames were the better team last night. On the road against a club like ANA and missing a player like Tanguay, that's no small accomplishment. Some supporting guys have looked pretty decent recently, including Lombardi, Boyd, Nolan and Vandermeer. Huselius is still snake-bitten as hell and I haven't noticed Langkow much the last few games. Also, "The Leap" which seemed evident in Phaneuf's game back in October, has been back in evidence recently.
Of course, you can glean all the positives you want from the last couple losses, but the fact is results are all that really matter at this point in the season. As I mentioned in the previous post, the Flames tread a thin line between a NW division title and missing the play-offs entirely. Moral victories seem encouraging, but are entirely useless at this stage of the game.
Calgary against the Coyotes this evening. The short turn-around means the flu ripping through the team will likely still be a factor. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to see Kipper on the bench again for this game. CuJo has played pretty well since his shaky debut against the Oilers, so Iron Mike might as well give a recovering Kipper the night off.
Given that he really struggled against the Yotes the prior time the two teams met, I feel obliged to mention that Cory Sarich has SUCKED recently (recently meaning the last 4 or 5 weeks). He may be sick and playing through some broken chicklets, but that hasn't been true of his entire slump (including the last game against PHX), so Im not going to grant him the benefit of the doubt. Since the start of February, Sarich is -6 in 14 games, only garnering a net plus rating in 3 of those contests. Sarich is now a minus player for the year overall (-1, -3 @ ES), despite playing a majority of the time Robyn Regher. Sure, he plays the tougher match-ups, but that's what he was brought in and paid (3.6M/year) to do. He's partnered with an elite player in this regard and adds nothing in terms of offense: his last point came on December 9th (!) and the Flames ES GF/60 with him on the ice is a paltry 2.07, lower than guys like Dustin Boyd (2.13) and even Regehr himself (2.72) somehow. In short, Cory is useless if he isn't shutting guys down and that's precisely what he's failing at right now. A turn-around in his play would be pretty damn helpful. Starting tonight, in fact, so the Flames can avoid giving up the embarrassing Peter Mueller natural hat trick.
Prediction - Iggy takes control and pots a couple. Flames win a close one, 3-2. Iginla (2) and Lombardi for Calgary, Rhino and Jovo for the Yotes. Also, Carcillo will fight someone and get some kind of misconduct.
First couple of minutes aside, I thought the Flames were the better team last night. On the road against a club like ANA and missing a player like Tanguay, that's no small accomplishment. Some supporting guys have looked pretty decent recently, including Lombardi, Boyd, Nolan and Vandermeer. Huselius is still snake-bitten as hell and I haven't noticed Langkow much the last few games. Also, "The Leap" which seemed evident in Phaneuf's game back in October, has been back in evidence recently.
Of course, you can glean all the positives you want from the last couple losses, but the fact is results are all that really matter at this point in the season. As I mentioned in the previous post, the Flames tread a thin line between a NW division title and missing the play-offs entirely. Moral victories seem encouraging, but are entirely useless at this stage of the game.
Calgary against the Coyotes this evening. The short turn-around means the flu ripping through the team will likely still be a factor. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to see Kipper on the bench again for this game. CuJo has played pretty well since his shaky debut against the Oilers, so Iron Mike might as well give a recovering Kipper the night off.
Given that he really struggled against the Yotes the prior time the two teams met, I feel obliged to mention that Cory Sarich has SUCKED recently (recently meaning the last 4 or 5 weeks). He may be sick and playing through some broken chicklets, but that hasn't been true of his entire slump (including the last game against PHX), so Im not going to grant him the benefit of the doubt. Since the start of February, Sarich is -6 in 14 games, only garnering a net plus rating in 3 of those contests. Sarich is now a minus player for the year overall (-1, -3 @ ES), despite playing a majority of the time Robyn Regher. Sure, he plays the tougher match-ups, but that's what he was brought in and paid (3.6M/year) to do. He's partnered with an elite player in this regard and adds nothing in terms of offense: his last point came on December 9th (!) and the Flames ES GF/60 with him on the ice is a paltry 2.07, lower than guys like Dustin Boyd (2.13) and even Regehr himself (2.72) somehow. In short, Cory is useless if he isn't shutting guys down and that's precisely what he's failing at right now. A turn-around in his play would be pretty damn helpful. Starting tonight, in fact, so the Flames can avoid giving up the embarrassing Peter Mueller natural hat trick.
Prediction - Iggy takes control and pots a couple. Flames win a close one, 3-2. Iginla (2) and Lombardi for Calgary, Rhino and Jovo for the Yotes. Also, Carcillo will fight someone and get some kind of misconduct.
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