3 Things From Week 12: Streaks, Prospects And Goals (Or Lack There Of)

The Flames rounded out 2017 by beating the St. Louis Blues in a tightly contested affair where they looked like a team that could play with the big dogs. Then they lost 3-2 to Montreal and looked like dog….well….you get the idea. Calgary’s 1-1-0 week dropped them to 1 point behind the Anaheim Ducks and 4 points behind the Dallas Stars in the Wild Card standings. It was another week of scoring issues for Calgary as they only scored 4 times in 2 games and the power play was a robust 1-7. On to an abbreviated holiday version of 3 Things!

We’re Going Streaking!: Win 2, Lose 3.

Don’t like the uncertainty of unpredictability? Neither do the Flames and that’s why for the last 22 days the Flames have been eerily predictable: win 2, lose 3. That’s been the entire month of December and this week was no different. Calgary’s win over St. Louis was their second in a row and promptly, they lost to the Canadiens, ending a winning streak and maybe, potentially setting up another 3 game losing skid. It’s normal for teams to be up and down and go on runs, but the Flames appear to be the masters of win 2, lose 3. Let’s hope that stops.

Good Week For The Kids: The Flames Are Well Represented At The World Juniors

The Flames have done fairly well drafting lately and the fruits of their labor will be on display at the 2017 World Junior’s this coming week. Juuso Välimäki, Linus Lindström, Eetu Tuulola, Adam Růžička, Dillion Dube and Adam Fox all got the call for their respective countries. Fox, Dube and Välimäki will all being wearing a letter for their countries with Fox getting an “A” for Team USA and Dube and Välimäki the Captains of Team Canada and Team Finland. With the Flames off until December 28th it’s a good time to catch up on the Flames prospects that will be playing next week.

The 2017 World Junior Tournament is in Buffalo this year and starts December 26th and runs through January 5th.

Offence: Where Is It?

It was another rough week for the Flames on the goal scoring front, as they averaged 2 goals per game in their short pre-Christmas week. The Flames did get themselves a PPG (Micheal Ferland) which seems like finding a unicorn lately, but they just can’t seem to ramp it up when it’s needed. Calgary had 23 shots on net against Montreal, only 6 of those coming in the third period when they were losing 3-0. I guess you could look at the bright side as 2 of those 6 found the back of the net, but a combined 13 shots in two periods, in a game you are losing isn’t good at all.

by Mark Parkinson