3 Things From Week 25: (Lack Of) Power Play, Ducks Terminate & Comings and Goings

Well, this certainly was a down week for the Calgary Flames. The good guys came into this week barely holding on to their playoff hopes and by weeks end they were barely hanging on to ANYTHING in general. The Flames went 0-3 on the week sending their record to 35-31-10 on the season, not exactly the record of a team that was supposed to make the playoffs. So the 2017-18 season is over playoff wise and now it’s time to see what this team has and NEEDS as they head into the off season. Luckily for the weary fan there’s only 6 games left on the season and if the Flames keep playing the way they are, there’re maybe 1 win in there. Sorry for being realistic, but there’s no reason to sugar coat anything. Here’s the rest of what happened in the Week 25 edition of 3 Things.

Power Play

Just when you think the Flames PP couldn’t get any worse, it does. The Flames went 0-9 this week with the man advantage and that stretched their streak of futility to 1-39. ONE FOR FREAKING THIRTY NINE? I mean, how does that happen? The last time the Flames had a PPG was back on March 7th in a 5-1 win over Buffalo. At least one half of the special teams is playing well. The Flames PK was 5-5 on the week. Smell ya later Dave Cameron.

The Terminator

The Anaheim Ducks might as well be a cyborg from the future that gets sent back in time to kill their seasons. The Ducks 4-0 victory over the Flames on Wednesday night ended Calgary’s chance to make the playoffs for 2017-18 and it seems like it is Anaheim’s job to make the Flames miserable. They ended Calgary’s season last year with a 4-0 sweep of the Flames in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and they ended the Flames season in 2014-15 by beating them in the second round of the playoffs 4-1. Anyone tired of the Ducks ending the Flames season yet?

Comings & Goings

Calgary finally did the right thing and shelved Sean Monahan for the season this week. The Flames centre hasn’t looked right for a while and according to the team he’s been battling some injuries.

The injuries would makes sense and explain Monahan’s play as of late. He has 2 goals in his last 10 games and will finish the season with 64 points (31G 33A), the highest total of his career.

Kris Versteeg was also placed on season ending IR this week after making it back for 2 games following his rehab for a hip injury. Versteeg is an UFA this off season and it will be interesting to see what the Flames do with a player that was supposed to be a big part of their power play plans this season.

Rasmus Andersson got the call to Calgary this for 3 of his 4 NHL games on the season. The heralded defence prospect didn’t do anything spectacular, nor did he do anything horrendous. I guess you could say his 3 games this week were average at best and with the way the rest of the team was playing, that’s a win. Andersson has the potential to be a large part of the Flames defence core moving forward so it would be nice to see a little more than “blending in” from the 21 year old from Sweden.

by Mark Parkinson