Flames Versus Ducks Post-Game - A Tentative Cheer or Plaintive Sigh
by Kent Wilson on Jan 18, 2010 9:34 AM PST
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PrintLike so many of the Flames efforts recently, Sunday night's game against the Ducks was a mixed bag. The club finally broke out of it's terrible scoring slump, beating Jonas Hiller four times (including an impressive 3 for 3 on break-aways!) and the PP actually looked semi-capable for the first time since around this time last season. So there's that.
On the bad side of the ledger, the Flames lost to a middling team lacking half of their top six forwards. Calgary frequently looked over-matched whenever Getzlaf/Perry took the ice and that was with someone named "Matt Beleskey" on their line (the trio were a combined +27 in terms of corsi). To be fair, they beat up on almost everyone else, but that's not much of feat considering the Ducks total lack of depth.
One of the primary reasons Calgary lost, however, was the play of Curtis McElhinney, who visibly struggled for most of the evening. At least two of the goals (Artyukhin and Ryan) were shots from non-scoring areas. His play in the last two contests hasn't been above board and raises the question of whether the Flames will have to chase a more capable back-up/insurance policy heading into the final portion of the season.
I haven't tallied the scoring chances yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were roughly even, especially at even strength. The Flames final 6 on 4 to end the game likely put them over the top, but that's not indicative of the play overall. Up front, the new fangled lines were just okay - Jokinen, Lundmark and Nystrom were okay when they were matched against comparable lines, but were throbbing liabilities whenever Carlyle got creative. Iginla and Conroy were matched against Getzlaf most of the evening and the result was, well, not terrible. Iggy ended up +3, but that was mainly because he happened to be on the ice pretty much every time the club scored on a break-away. I was mostly unimpressed with his play otherwise, although Jarome has certainly had worse evenings this year. At least he broke his pointless streak with an assist the Lundmark tally.
Overall - meh. The team probably played well enough to win, but the game could have gone either way. That's a step forward from the steaming heap they served up against the Preds and but sizable step back from the hockey they were playing just a week ago.
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I still haven’t come up with a decent nickname for Beleskey yet, unfortunately — I feel like it’s one of my great failures as a blogger.
http://www.battleofcali.com/
Brass Bells? Hound of Beleskerville? Beleskey of the Ball? Ask not for whom the Beleskey tolls?
by Kent Wilson on Jan 18, 2010 10:13 AM PST up reply actions
For Iginla: better performance against Getz (when the game was on the line, which was pretty much the entire game) than the last outing against the Ducks. I don’t know what it is about Getzlaf, he can make some of the best players in the world (Zetterberg, Thornton, etc.) look silly.
In any case I might be riding my high from Iggy’s past ten games here but he is still looking a ton better in the offensive zone. Of course last night he gave a ton back too, hopefully that’s not a common occurence going forward.
The defence looked like they had a rough go of it too, constant turnovers from forecheck pressure. Forward support looked decent so the D really just have to make “the simple play” i.e. play the puck to the guy who is under the least pressure.
I didn’t catch PP1 but apparently Jokinen was on the point? And it took 50 games to come up with that idea? And I still don’t know about this Regehr-on-the-PP, sounds like a patented Simmer idea to put a big body in front of the net but here in reality, the guy in the front still has to have the forward’s game to chase the puck and provide support on the cycle should the play shift to behind the goal line. Hopefully he’s just acting as a David Moss injury replacement.
First PP looked competent to me and, yeah, Jokinen was on the blueline. Sutter made a pointed remark in a press scrum about Reggie in front of the net saying, “we want a big body who’s willing to stay in front of the net…” so it might be one of those message sending exercises coaches engage in now and then.
by Kent Wilson on Jan 18, 2010 10:11 AM PST up reply actions
My thoughts on last nights game…
1: McHardToSpell… blah. Why oh why did D. Sutter decide that he was one of the first FA to resign in the offseason. If he’d have just waited he could have grabbed Weekes, Legace, or Fernandez none of whom would have cost more then McBackup once the market became known, all of whom I’d rather have had as a backup.
2: I thought Lundmark and Jokinen had some decent moments together. They worked well together (at least from an offensive perspective).
3: The PP: Actually looked good! at least that once. I concur with the above that Jokinen ought to be employed on the point. the guy has a bigass shot why not play him where he can use it. Echo the hope the Regehr is the designated screener/deflector only until Moss is back.
4: Cory Sarich should have been sent to Abbotsford on a conditioning stint and is probably the most overpaid #6 defenseman in the league (Yeah, yeah I’m sure he’s not #6 forever but that’s what he is right now essentially). What’s worse that means I can’t point and laugh at Jeff Finger anymore.
Sure you can. Finger was a healthy scratch the other night.
by Kent Wilson on Jan 18, 2010 11:26 AM PST up reply actions
Cory Sarich should have been sent to Abbotsford on a conditioning stint and is probably the most overpaid #6 defenseman in the league (Yeah, yeah I’m sure he’s not #6 forever but that’s what he is right now essentially). What’s worse that means I can’t point and laugh at Jeff Finger anymore.
You’re of course referring to the Arthuykin goal where Sarich was beat, yes?
If so, I dunno, Sarich was beat wide but it’s pretty hard to call a scoring chance I think. Considering where Arthuykin started (his blueline) Sarich was in a good enough position that even getting beat wide the chance that results is hardly a chance at all.
I still blame McElhinney entirely for that sequence, personally.
Well… not just for that. He’s looked sluggish on his skates and he’s been playing less minutes then Adam Pardy against the lesser lights ever since he came back. He’s not being played to what his skill level should be, I’m not a hater I think Cory Sarich is a good hockey player and when healthy a legit top four d-man who logs PK minutes on top of a goodly amount of EV time.
He’s obviously being eased back into the line-up I just think that he probably should have started that easing on a lower level where he can log a ton of minutes and get his edge back.
A conditioning stint for Sarich would have been nice. Probably would have been harmless too, Sarich came back at a time when the forwards were lighting it up.
Which means… I guess since Kronwall was waived immediately, it means Sutter’s gearing up cap space for a deadline deal. Ugh. Hopefully he gets it right. Be pissed if it were for a Marleau type (who for all the world looks like a less-plays-die-on-his-stick Jokinen who is benefitting from playing beside two of the most offensively gifted players in the league).
i hate this team right now. that goes pretty much across the board except kippy, bourque, and gio who are all killing it. it’s absolutely the most frustrating team to watch.
also, i hate the fact that the scoresheet from last night shows calgary with four goals. we spent the better part of four games unable to put pucks in the net (even with AMPLE opportunity) and all of a sudden everyone thinks “hey we got four goals, we’re back on track !!!!” it’s total bunk. smoke and mirrors. 3 breakaway goals ? come ON !!!! the likelihood of getting that many breakaways in another game this year is phenomenally slight (i’d say next to zero). we got one goal last night. 1. ONE actual in-game, hard work, infront of the net, nice setup goal.
The goals don’t all come from good setups. I’m sure Bodie’s not taking his deflection-off-his-skate-from-a-perfectly-placed-rebound goal back.
Main problem with last night’s game was that the Flames didn’t create more than they generated, which just doesn’t do when you’re playing your #2 goalie (no matter how good or bad he is).
bodie’s goal is EXACTLY what we’re not getting. why ? because nobody crashes the net. nobody did it last year under keenan, and nobody’s doing it this year. is regehr really our best bet at deflections/screens/garbage goals ? REALLY ??! if yes then we’re in a boatload more trouble than i thought….
by walkinvisible on Jan 18, 2010 1:57 PM PST up reply actions
Even the mists of time seen to have taken the shine off of the last Chicago game it appears. The post game that I wrote is here, we actually carried the play when the game was on the line, but (as it has happened a number of times to every team in the league) we were on the short end of the bounces.
Also “Nobody but me seems to think so” is an exaggeration, plenty of people (maimster, icedragon) thought we played a good EV game against Chi-town.
If I recall correctly, the Flames played fine at even strength vs the Hawks. It was the 4 (or was it 5? I forget) PP goals by the Hawks that carried them. I remember because I griped for a while afterwards about how the (then) league’s 21st or 23rd (somewhere in that range) ranked PP should score 4 times on the PP.
Yeah, I didn’t remember that game too well. My fear is a natural one built up after multiple losses to the Blackhawks I think.
That and the fact that they’re a fearsome team. Were I a betting man and I had to put dollars on what team will hoist the Cup I’d put it on the ’Hawks.
At least this year… they’ve got to shed about 9M cap-bucks off their roster next year so I wouldn’t expect them to be this good next year. But damn is their Core ever good (and still Young!).
I’m not sure i understand why Sutter would even play McElhinney last night. Who cares if its a back to back? There’s two days off in between, there is no reason Kipper couldn’t have handled both games. When you’re on a losing skid and you’re playing in a place that you haven’t won in like 5 YEARS, WHY would you put in your backup goalie? It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. McElhinney, to be fair, was pretty bad last night. I really have to wonder how much different things would have been had Kipper been in there instead. Oh well, with the Sharks up tonight and the Hawks on Thursday, I have a bad feeling the Flames could possibly wake up in a week sitting outside the playoffs. They have pretty much no room for error at this point. And it makes me shudder to know now how big losing the 4 points against lesser teams like the WIld and Jackets a couple weeks back is looming now.
Iginla on the right side of more than half the Flames EV chances (of course he didn’t work for all of those), also on the wrong side of half the Ducks EV chances too (of course he wasn’t at fault for all of those either).
Would have been infinitely better if he outchanced but it was less frustrating to see him impotent in the offensive zone. That cycle to set up the Lundmark goal was sublime.
That 7-4 special teams count says it all really. Not a fantastic night for the PK but the PP was very very good.
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