Just didn’t seem like the usual night in Nashville.
No Terry Crisp between periods, no Mike Fisher and Carrie Underwood spectacles, no Barry Trotz behind the bench, oh and no easy home side victory as the Flames ended a skid against the Predators with a solid 3-2 shoot out win on Tuesday night.
A listless game in St. Louis was sure to put a little steam in their ears, and it did exactly that as the Flames posted their most complete game of the season.
The Flow
A much better start for the Flames, as they kept the puck in the Predator zone for their first two shifts, causing some concern from the Nashville crowd. Some penalty trouble in the middle of the period gave the Preds the chance they needed and Forsberg bagged an extra man goal on a pass from Roy. Calgary tied it when Brodie took the puck end to end, and the celebrated a lucky bounce off a Pred defenseman to tie it up. Shots 7-6 Nashville through 20.
The Flames were by the far the better team in the second, carrying the play and pushing the envelope on the forecheck and cycle. The Flames took their first lead of the night when Mark Giordano wired one on a powerplay, but the Preds tied it soon after when a bouncing puck hit three legs and landed on the stick of known Flame killer Ribeiro.
The third was another solid road period, though neither team scored despite some wild chances at both ends. The Flames out shot the Preds in the game, but probably gave up three of the top four chances against, Ramo was amazing.
A pretty good dose of firewagon in the overtime stanza as the teams trade chances and chaos, but both goaltenders were ready for the onslaught and were able to push things to a shoot out.
The shoot out featured a goal by Colburne, a miss by Hudler and Ramo saves on Roy, Neal and Jokinen.
Three Stars
1.Mark Giordano: Can literally pick this guy as clutch or a game star every night, he’s that consistent. Tonight a goal and an assist to lead the Flames along with battery mate TJ Brodie.
2.Kari Ramo: Two starts and two second star performances for Ramo in my game takes. Just like some offensive performances in the Oiler victory others could have been chosen, but Ramo was too key.
3.Craig Smith: Had two assists for the Predators and could have scored the game winner but was robbed in the third period.
Big Save
Ramo was like Norwegian skiers in that he had the gold, silver and bronze in the goaltending event of the night. The Flames had lots of shots and chances, but Ramo was amazing robbing James Neal on a bang bang play from behind the net, Gaustad on an in close chance, but the save of the night was a glove save on a two on one on Smith in the third. Great night.
The Goat
Not an easy pick tonight. The Flames win on the road in a game where they only surrender 21 shots in 65 minutes, and there were no passengers. Can’t really find a goat on the Predator side either. Move along.
Mr. Clutch
With Giordano and Ramo taking star nods, you have to toss this category to TJ Brodie and his goal and assist night. Points are nice, but timing is key, and his end to end play that finished with a fortunate deflection goal was a momentum grabber for the Flames. They were much better from that point on.
Odds and Ends
The Flames continue there Jekyll and Hyde face off performance in game four of the young season. Deadly in game one against Vancouver, awful in Edmonton, awful in St. Louis and great against the Predators tonight, winning 57% of their draws (were up in the 60% range most of the night). All four centers were 53% or better for the Flames, Colburne, Monahan and Stajan at 63-65%. Derek Roy and Paul Guastad has particularly tough nights. The league stat to this point? 51.3% for the Flames good for 12th overall in face off standings amongst teams compared to the 2013-14 season when they finished dead last with a 46.2% rate. Small sample size for sure, but something to watch going forward. In a possession based game, starting with the puck is key. For interest sake, Nashville is ranked 17th in draws after the game, so they’re not brutal coming in. … Hate the generalizations and summaries I land on in mid October, seems silly to be stating anything with 78/82nd still to come, but two things are true through four games; 1) The Flames have a pretty solid NHL tandem in goal 2) Kari Ramo is the better of the two so far. The second statement needs an asterisk of course as Ramo started against two non playoff teams last year, while Hiller played against a late diving team and a cup contender, but Ramo has been good. Do we fear not getting this guy signed before February? Not a lot of goaltenders get bid up at the deadline. … Johnny Gaudreau was quiet again tonight, as he was limited to only 12:49 of ice time and stapled to the bench for the four on four over time. He’s just not creating and is clearly having trouble with time and space. I liked his deflection attempt, and his short side pass attempt in the third came close. Not getting a lot of puck luck. Still say the patient route is the smart one with him though. … Mikael Backlund is rounding back into form after not looking quite himself to start the season. There’s a reason guys that miss camp on holdouts have bad seasons, as catching up is hard. Backlund missed all of camp with an abdominal injury, but has returned to that great two way, zone entry driven game that we all loved in the second half last season. …
Next Up
No rest for the weary as the Flames travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks tomorrow night. Game time 6.30pm on Sportsnet.
Lines:
Jeri Hudler – Sean Monahan – Setoguchi
Curtis Glencross – Mikael Backlund – Paul Byron
Mason Raymond – Joe Colborne – Johnny Gaudreau
Brandon Bollig – Matt Stajan – Bouma
Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie
Kris Russell – Deryk Engellend
Ladislav Smid – Dennis Wideman
Kari Ramo
