A nice 5 day break would have been the perfect tonic for a slight of stature Johnny Gaudreau, given his college penchant of only suiting up for 40 some games a season. The dog days are upon us, and a guy used to playing half seasons is due to wear out, especially if said player is giving up 6 inches and 60 pounds to the average NHLer he’s staring down.
Or perhaps not.
Gaudreau came back from the all star festivities with more drive, confidence, and swagger after brushing shoulders with the games’ best, scoring twice to pace the Flames to a 4-1 win over the sputtering Buffalo Sabres.
He’s made a hockey career of moving his game to the next level when challenged. He’s not used to going backward after adjusting forward. The Sabres are certainly backward.
The Flow
The game had the typical post all star game break start with very little happening through the game’s first 10 minutes. The Sabres didn’t have a shot through the first 13 minutes but the Flames only had three; needless to say very little was going on. The Sabres hit the scoreboard first though, of course, converting a powerplay a mere handful of seconds into the man advantage. The game had that uh oh feeling. Credit to the Flames, however, as they got back on their horse and pushed the play back the Sabres, tying the goal on a powerplay of their own on a goal by Johnny Gaudreau. Gaudreau takes the puck out of the corner and deftly handles stick handles the puck twice in the blue paint, sucking Enroth to his knees before beating him high.
The second period was all Calgary but you wouldn’t know it by the statistics nor the result. The score read 0-0, the shots read 11-8, but I had the chances somewhere around 6-1 for the Flames as they held all kinds of territorial advantage, but were thwarted by Enroth, shooting wide or blocked shots.
The third period is about as impressive of a period as the Flames have played this season, and that says a lot given the team’s crazy final stanza record this season. But in this case the situation is key, in that they were tied in a game they should be winning against a team that they would have preferred to have cruised against; they didn’t tighten up. The Flames go ahead when a Joe Colborne outlets a pass to Jooris then follows the play up the ice, takes a shot, and has Jooris hammer in the rebound, the eventual game winner. Colborne is back again a few minutes later when he adds the insurance goal, pounding in a rebound to make it 3-1. Gaudreau rounds out the scoring when he takes a feed from Hudler and Monahan to score his second of the night and put things away.
Three Stars
1.Johnny Gaudreau: Scores twice, and that was only the finish. Calgary’s dominant player from coast to coast.
2.Joe Colborne: Lanky kid is really growing into his body, his presence is noticeable in the third period where he picks up a goal and an assist.
3.Jiri Hudler: Sicky McSickisen adds two assists despite being under the weather including a seeing eye pass to Gaudreau for the team’s fourth goal.
Big Save
Seconds after Sean Monahan had the puck roll off his stick and slide wide the Sabres pushed and looked to have gone ahead 2-1 late in the second but Hiller stretches out to stone Stewart and keep the game at 1-1, setting up a big third period finish.
The Goat
Not going to lie, Joe Colborne was writing himself into this spot in the first period with two needless penalties and a bizarre play where he lost the handle on his stick and saw his twig fly 85 feet away from the play setting up a Buffalo chance. However, he was good in the second and great in the third removing him from this space. So I’m going to go with Tim Murray for leaving his team so helpless in diving towards the Connor McDavid pick. They looked completely overmatched in this one, and may not win a game for a long long while.
Mr. Clutch
Paul Byron. Lots of guys that you could pick including Monahan, Jooris, Jones, and many more, but I loved Paul Byron’s game tonight. Had his token no result breakaway, but looking past that you saw speed, physical play, heads up decisions and hustle and effort all over the ice. If this guy was 6’0″ he’d be a dominant top six forward.
Odds and Ends
Well I was excited enough to see the Flames in a playoff spot at American Thanksgiving to write a jinx cursed article predicting the Flames a cinch to make it to the post season this year. By Christmas those hopes were all but dashed, and now, a month later the Flames come out of the all star break in a playoff spot with 10 of 12 on home ice and a chance to make hay. What a crazy season. Have to think the Flames need to win a good 8 of the 10 on home ice if they want to control their destiny as Hartley suggested this morning, and a loss to Buffalo would certainly have damaged that. . … Calgary’s win puts them three points up on the Kings with L.A. having a game in hand. At press time the Canucks are down 3-0 to the Ducks, meaning the Flames move into a tie for the final Pacific playoff spot though the Canucks will hold two games in hand. With Bieksa’s injury the time is now for the Flames to reel them in. … The Flames now need to go only 3 games over .500 the rest of the way to finish with 92 points and a 60/40 chance at making the playoffs, one more point and they are likely a lock. Interesting! … I see this week as go time for Brad Treliving. The Flames have three winnable games this week but then start a month of hockey (February) that will make or break their season. Hiller looked good tonight, and hopefully that’s the case for the next four weeks, but moving Ramo and inserting Ortio now is the best move for the team if they are serious about a playoff spot. Ortio could fall on his face, for sure, but he seems to be the Flame’s best bet for having a goaltender that can steal games in the final third of the season.
Next Up
The Flames move on to game two of a six game homestand when the Minnesota Wild come to town on Thursday night. Game time 7pm on Sportsnet.
Lines:
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Jiri Hudler
Lance Bouma – Mikael Backlund – David Jones
Mason Raymond – Josh Jooris – Joe Colborne
Brandon Bollig – Matt Stajan – Paul Byron
Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie
Kris Russell – Dennis Wideman
Raphael Diaz – Derek Engellend
Jonas Hiller
