Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One: G7 Flames @ Blue Jackets Post-Game

Stop me if you've heard this one: 20 guys walk into a bar. They decide to get into a game of beer pong with 20 other guys at the bar. Now the first 20 guys are supposed to be really, really good at beer pong, as if, you know, they're getting paid to do it or something. I know, ridiculous, right? They haven't been too hot at some of the other bars they've been to recently, so they promised a million of their closest friends that they'd do better at this one. So they start playing beer pong, and they come out pretty strong. But their best beer pong players are too busy hitting on the hot chicks across the table and pretty soon they're getting abused. Ping, pong, in the cup, bottoms up, and before you know it these 20 guys are drunk and have lost the game.

And those chicks that they were trying to impress? They went home with the winners!

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Ha ha, what a joke! Just like that Flames game.

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Corsi

Scoring Chances
(there’s a wonky problem with the EV/PP designations for the third period chances)

NHL.com Recap

 Breakdowns:

1st period
EV shots: 9-9
EV Corsi: +5 Columbus

2nd period
EV shots: 11-5 Columbus
EV Corsi: +11 Columbus

3rd period
EV shots: 8-5 Columbus
EV Corsi: +2 Columbus

Overall
EV shots: 28-19 Columbus
EV Corsi: +18 Columbus

There's nothing I could write in this space that hasn't been hashed and rehashed before. The Flames played like crap. The top line was horrible and Jokinen wasn't even on it for a while. They came out ok (I was following along during the first period on the FAN and TimeOnIce) but my impression is that the play was even. The last two periods… I'm kinda glad I missed them.

Discussion points:
– Great game by Kiprusoff. It was a wasted effort but 27/28 saves at EV is outstanding, and letting in a goal on a 5on3 is not a mark of shame.

– It's a bit of a burn to see Stralman and Huselius score goals against us. It might have been a mistake to let Huselius go but I think Stralman, well, it's splitting hairs between him and Kronwall and Johnson, and it's just plain bad luck (or bad karma) that he was the one to score the tying goal.

– Interesting stat of the evening: Brian McGratton was on the ice for 0 attempted shots for and 0 scoring chances for, but 6 attempted shots against and 2 scoring chances against. He was the only Flame to be on the ice for absolutely no good events. Oh, and zero fights – three other players carried the mail for him. What are we paying him for again?

– 4 minor penalties against (including a 5on3) vs. 1 minor penalty for – that's a bit rich, isn't it? Considering: a.) Stephen Walkom is a documented ignoramus; and b.) the game thread is sprinkled with complaints on officiating, and M&G usually does not engage in bitch-fests – well, I am inclined to think the officiating wasn't the greatest this game.

Oh well. Let’s hope the Flames regroup for Thursday against the Canucks. Honestly priority #1 in that game for me is to win it, I don’t care how bad we play as long as we get 2 points and Vancouver gets zero. But it’d be nice if they played well.

Feel free to discuss and vent and all that.

by Richard Ong