Flames @ Coyotes Post-Game - Picking out Positives
by Kent Wilson on Jan 29, 2010 7:06 AM PST
36 comments
Let's ignore the fact that the Flames lost this one. Partially because the game could have gone either way and partially because, well...I'm running out of things to talk about when it comes to this losing streak. Nothing has changed enough for there to signal an alteration in the analysis. At least the Coyotes didn't score one of those random, triple-deflection off-of legs-in-front goals that have plaguing the Flames recently.
Here's the briefest of recaps for those who missed out: the teams played to a draw in the first period, essentially spending most of the time in the neutral zone. Phoenix came on in the second period, thanks to a combination of power plays and just being the better team. At one point, they went on a 14-0 run in terms of shots. Not surprisingly, this is where they took the 2-0 lead. The Flames battled back a bit by the end of the second, with Mark Giordano's 'Goal the Year' acting as a rallying cry. In the third, Brent Sutter went to the "blender", unveiling all sorts of wacky combinations up front that actually kind of worked. Mikael Backlund played a bunch in the period and tallied his first NHL goal.
There was a bit of controversy when Eric Nystrom jammed at the puck during a goal mouth scramble and then raised his arms in celebration. No available camera angle could conclusively prove the puck was in the net, however, so the "goal" was disallowed.
Overall, Calgary played a decent game. The scoring chances were equal at 19 apiece and it took a coin flip to decide the contest. If the club hadn't stumbled about deaf and dumb through the first 10 minutes of the second stanza, they probably would have won the game. Cold comfort, I know.
On an individual level, last night was a stark illustration of how thoroughly Mark Giordano has usurped Cory Sarich from the Flames top 4. The latter drew back into the line-up after being a healthy scratch the game previous and visibly struggled. He was caught on bad pinches twice in the first period, one which caused him to take not one, but two hooking penalties on the back-check (no, I've never seen that either). Sarich just happened to be on the ice for both goals against as well. So although he started the evening out playing on the second pairing with Bouwmeester (for some baffling reason), his ice time slowly eroded as the game wore on when it was clear he couldn't handle the assignment. He didn't touch the ice in overtime and ended up with just 12 minutes of ice.
Giordano, on the other hand, scored the best goal by a single Flames player all year. On top of that, he defused a Phoenix 3-on-1 break (caaused by you know who) with a valiant back-check. He ended the evening with more than 24 minutes of ice. If someone rational had been picking the three stars, Giordano would have landed there (instead, Lang, Korpikosky and Brygalaov were the stars...meaning some goober simply watched the shoot-out and chose from there).
I once compared Giordano to Brian Rafalski awhile back. Suddenly that comparison doesn't look so silly.
Up front, it was a mix of good and bad. Iginla's underlying numbers were rather poor (-4 corsi, -1 ES scoring chances) and he spent a lot of time mishandling the puck whenever it was on his stick. Langkow and Bourque continue to be fairly average as well, although Rene seemed to come to life in the third period. Boyd spent more time in the top 6 and didn't look out of place either. If there's any benefit to the current rash of injuries, it's that guys like Boyder and Backlund are getting more than a perfunctory look. Backlund, as mentioned, had a solid outing. He seemed to get more comfortable as the night wore on. As a result, Butter gave him some ice time with better players. Perhaps most intriguing is that fact that he went 60% in the dot for the second straight night. Someone who can win draws?? Maybe we should keep the kid around for that reason alone...
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Backlund did alright?
Maybe there is some hope in Flames land. Gio continues to impress.
Well, the positive is that they at least picked up a point…the negative is that, I’m of the mind that the Flames would probably do just as well in a shootout if they left their net empty and had an old person on a motorized cart shooting for them, because this total ineptness is laughable. Next game against the Oilers is going to be interesting. Both teams are stinking the joint out right now (though Edmonton has clearly struggled a lot worse), but I’m sure this will be a game in which the Oilers are determined to end their woes, after all, it’s against their division rivals, and what better way than to extend the Flames streak to 10? I will say though, if the Flames DO lose to the Oilers, it will definitely set a new low.
Backlund, despite his lackluster numbers in the AHL, actually looks a bit better in the NHL. I’ve seen him in person about 6 or 7 times out in Abbottsford, and he definitely plays better up top on the big club. As a side note, the prospect interview they did with Riley Armstrong made me quite happy. I love seeing him play on the Heat club, he brings energy to each shift, hits hard, plays hard, and is decent offensively and sound defensively. I can see him filling out a 4th line role at some point for the Flames.
Part of that might be due to the Heat being pretty terrible in general. I mean, I know the Flames are doing poorly, but he’s surrounded by players who are infinitely better than those down a level now, and it’s good to see him benefitting from it.
by SmellOfVictory on Jan 29, 2010 12:41 PM PST up reply actions
He’ll have a lot of competition then(not the least of whom is the bosses son). I mean if we have no shortage anywhere in the developmental system it’s with bottom six forwards.
Ha ha that would have been awesome if Sutter called up his boy. That is really putting all your chips in one bet
by Rod Blogojevich on Jan 29, 2010 2:45 PM PST up reply actions
Missed this one entirely, didn’t even see a score until this morning. Read the gamethread and postgame comments, summarized everything pretty well. Comparison to the 91-92 Flames in the comments was pretty good, it does feel a lot like that year. I still have not seen any actual video of the Flames since the Pittsburgh game, so I’ll make sure to watch Saturday (obviously, me watching will break the streak).
Loved the Gio highlight above, the TSN one from the game highlights was too quick and didn’t do any replays. Not only is Gio obvious top 4 for Flames, I think his emergence is one more reason to trade Phaneuf (I have to keep hammering on this point).
i have to wonder (out loud) if that’s why sarich slotted in next to jaybouw --as a tryout. and also why the johnson-pardy was reunited v. dallas. testing the potential alternate pairings ?? hmmmmm…..
by walkinvisible on Jan 29, 2010 11:26 AM PST up reply actions
(in saying that, the 4-6 pairing was a bust. but perhaps the reunion of the 6-28 pairing would be better)
by walkinvisible on Jan 29, 2010 11:28 AM PST up reply actions
does that, generally, signify that johnson > sarich ?
by walkinvisible on Jan 30, 2010 10:24 AM PST up reply actions
Maybe it’s Johnson=Sarich, with 3 million less of a cap hit. That’s not a compliment to Johnson, really. He’s pretty average. Number 6 just isn’t playing very well, and he’s nothing more than a luxury item at best if he isn’t a productive member of the top 4.
by Robert Cleave on Jan 30, 2010 10:49 AM PST up reply actions
I think we saw what we all wanted to see. The Flames playing their hearts out.
- Diving for Pucks to clear them out of the zone
- Great push back after being down 2-0
- 4 Points would be nice but 2 is just fine with me
- Mark Giordano goal was a thing of beauty and from a freaking defenseman
- Backlund-Boyd-Iginla against weaker competition looks really good
- Phaneuf played 10x better last night then he did in Dallas
- A shootout is the worst invention ever I would have said the same thing if we won
I think it’s safe to say tomorrows BoA will be one the best in recent memory, nobody likes losing for somebody it’s going to continue.
I think the Flames should listen to this song in the Dressing Room before the game. You can have your ‘’Lose Yourself’’ & ‘’Eye of the Tiger’’ but The Alan Parson’s Project’s ’’Sirius’’ is the best pump up song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCR85u9QngQ&feature=related
At least it's not 97-98.
Everyone talks about how the alternative to a shootout would be 3v3 hockey, which actually sounds a little bit TOO open to be super interesting.
How about something completely different? Pull the goalie on both teams. 4v4 without goalies for a second OT. Guaranteed that the game wouldn’t last longer than 2 mins! In fact, it almost becomes a game of “face-off duel”. Realistically, they’d never do it, but I thought it was an interesting idea at least.
I don’t so much mind the shootout (I don’t like it but I get the business rational behind it). I just really don’t like the loser point..
I’m a big fan of the 3 point system. 3 for a win, 2 for an OT/shootout win, 1 for an OT/shootout loss.
I agree, better Pump Up music is in order. Rest assured, Kiprusoff listens strictly to Scandinavian Death Punk like Turbonegro but after seeing the Flames PPV interviews when they all answered ``U2`` as their favorite concert, I finally realized the Flames are a bunch of raging pussies. Except Regehr and his love for Metallica. And Sjostrom`s night with Bruce Springsteen, of course.
by Rod Blogojevich on Jan 29, 2010 2:42 PM PST up reply actions
Agreed. They need to start having some serious Aqua listening sessions pregame.
by SmellOfVictory on Jan 29, 2010 5:50 PM PST up reply actions
OT should go back to pre-Bettman rules: 5v5 for 5. If no one scores, it’s a tie. 1 point each. Loser gets 0pts for a loss in regulation or OT. What the hell was wrong with that?
It didn’t produce a “winner” and discouraged more open play in OT. The change was part of the never-ending quest to break into the wider U.S. market I believe. Shootout being the tie-breaker as it’s an attempt to replicate “The most exciting moment in hockey”… personally I find shootouts have a tiny fraction of the excitement that an in-game breakaway has but evs.
Regardless, I still think it’s silly that the losing side is rewarded with a point.
In an OTL it is ridiculous that the loser is rewarded.
A shootout, however, is just a random number generator that rewards a team that failed to win.
Disagree. The shootout may not be as fair an indicator of the team as a whole, but it’s not entirely random, either. Certain teams have players who are better in that kind of situation, just as certain teams have goaltenders who are better in that kind of situation.
by SmellOfVictory on Jan 29, 2010 1:34 PM PST up reply actions
The Hockey Gods are well and truly dipping into the sauce now. Not just for the Flames, but a lot of other teams in the league.
Nine losses in a row, forget about what this team’s true talent is, there’s no way any team in today’s NHL is bad enough. The Oilers are half the team the Flames are and they don’t deserve to lose nine in a row (let alone 12) and the Avs are half the team the Oilers are and look where they are in the standings.
The 4-minute call on Sarich, was that legit? That seems very bullshitty, I mean if Sarich had just hooked him straight from the neutral zone in (like Gio did one time last year) it would have been a single penalty and there would have been less of a possibility of scoring on the play to begin with.
Kipper should go back to his pokechecks in the SO.
The shootout is fun to watch, but lets not kid ourselves. You could probably flip a coin for every shootout that happens in 1230 NHL regular-season games, then flip again ten thousand times, and the spread of flips would cover the actual shooutout results. And as far as the NHL is concerned, it’s a feature not a bug. All in the name of PARITY!!! Frustrating when you’re on the tail-end of an extended winless streak, but otherwise it’s fun to watch.
Decent game from the boys but Iginla has to get his head out his ass. Check out his Zonestart, then check out his Corsi, then check your memories… not good enough Captain, not good enough.
Prust was decent though, what a beauty chance denied by Bryzgalov’s pad. I bet by the end of his career he’ll be able to count the number of NHL games he gets put into non-goon ice time on two hands, so good no him.
That’s been the rub with Jarome this year – (and arguably last year). Sometimes he shows up and it’s like his gloves and skates are filled with cement. Dude couldn’t handle the puck or stay on his feet if his life depended on it last night. And yet, a few weeks ago he handled the Sedins. I know all human performance has some element of natural variance to it, but cmon.
Oh and Gio’s goal was very impressive but that move probably works less than 3 out of 10 times he tries it. I think in 6 out of 10 alternate universes Jovo catches him with the hit, and in four of those it’s an elbow and Gio’s out for the rest of the season. Thank the lawd Gio’s okay.
It’s funny shit that their two goals came off of that move and Backlund’s seeing-eye out of the prime scoring area but I suppose when they’re in prime areas and getting denied by stray legs and sticks and when that fails, the opposition goalie comes up with his brilliant save, then the Flames don’t have to apologize for getting two pretty unlikely goals.
I am happy Backlund scored. It makes his call up that much more worth it. Its little things like that I’m pulling from these losses now. I might be wrong, but if that goal would of been allowed, MB might of had an assist too.
Spreading that Calgary Flames, Montreal Expos, The U, and Orlando Magic love.
I think we can all expect a fight show tomorrow at least I’m hoping this will be my first BoA since 03-04 and with both teams in the situation they are now desperate for a win (More so the Flames) but still especially seeing that these teams won’t probably meet till early October 2010.
At least it's not 97-98.
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