There’s been a lot said recently about being competitive. About pride, about caring, about tanking and quitting, and aiming for first overall draft picks.
Leah Hextall set the Twitter Universe ablaze the other night for throwing down the gauntlet to the Edmonton Oilers for an almost decade long sleep walk into oblivion. Her sucks shouldn’t be allowed to suck so long tirade was legendary. The other day in Vancouver, Henrik Sedin captain of the sliding Vancouver Canucks suggested you can’t let losing slink into your dressing room, you have to keep pushing or things can become a habit as in other citites.
Tonight the Flames took the ice after a hard fought road loss in Los Angeles with distractions of Kris Russell and Jiri Hudler’s soon to be departure at the deadline making headlines and put in a spirited, and at times dominant effort against the New York Islanders but in the end dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Islanders.
The Flow
A sleepy start by the Flames as the Islanders registered the game’s first 4 shots and a fair bit of the play despite coming up empty. Calgary finds their feet from there and goes on a shot run of their own and are rewarded when Mark Giordano makes a big stand at the Islander blueline jamming the puck and wiping out to New Yorkers with the puck spilling to Johnny Gaudreau who finds Sean Monahan who finds Jiri Hudler for his last goal in Flame’s colours? Calgary gets a powerplay and evens the shot clock score 1-0 Flames after one.
Another solid period for the Flames in the second as they get more great chances on Jaroslav Halak but are turned back by great saves, poor shots and bobbled pucks in deep. Meanwhile at the other end Joni Ortio continues to turn in his second straight good start for the Flames keeping the Islander blanked through two periods and setting up a shut out chance heading into the third.
The third was pretty much on par with the first two; two teams going hard at each other in a very entertaining low scoring affair. Jiri Hudler had a great chance midway through the period that could have put things away but a great pad save by Halak kept the score at 1-0 Calgary. With about 7 minutes to play the Islander tie the game when Hickey gets a back hander under Ortio’s armpit and into the corner to knot things at one and we head to overtime.
The last few Flame’s overtime games haven’t been all that entertaining but this was one a throwback to pre-Christmas excitement as the teams went end to end for the full five minutes. A Mark Giordano cross bar heads back up the ice with John Tavares making a great move and finding Bailey who goes top shelf past Ortio for the win, 2-1 Islanders.
Three Stars
1.John Tavares: Creative player create and that’s exactly what Tavares did in overtime when he turned a harmless play into a game winner along the half wall. Special player.
2.Jaroslav Halak: Kelly Hrudey pointed out that little goalies can still get it done with hockey sense and athleticism which was evident in Halak’s 31 save peformance.
3.Joni Ortio: Second straight 2-1 loss, this time he stops 32 of 34 shots or 67 of 71 in two starts.
Big Save
Halak was huge when he slid across the crease to stone Jire “last couple of games with this team” Hudler on a point blank right pad save in the third period. That goes in and this game is over.
The Goat
Great played, there is no goat, but if you wanted to hang it on someone it’s Sean Monahan for losing Bailey in the three on three overtime period. In all fairness to Monahan covering the front of the net isn’t normally in his coverage zone five on five.
Mr. Clutch
Johnny Gaudreau. Got a point on the Flame’s only goal for points in six straight games and was the author of many more line rushes leading to scoring chances.
Odds and Ends
Interesting that John Tavares wears number 91 as that was the number worn by Butch Goring, maybe the most prized deadline acquisition in NHL history on this day, just four days before the NHL trade deadline. A lot of talk about the risk and reward of trade deadline deals but when the New York Islanders plucked Goring from the L.A. Kings for Billy Harris and Dave Lewis on March 10th, 1980. Since then teams have chased that franchise altering deal that can take a contender into the cup champion when the dust settles in June. Tonight the Flame’s had their prize jewel up front, Jiri Hudler score there only goal, basically playing at a point per game for the last month. Meanwhile Kris Russell, referred to as medically cleared to play but a scratch creating a shroud of mystery. Did he re-hurt himself? Did he pull himself out frustrated by the deadline? Did the Flames choose to sit him to avoid the risk of injury? Was their a trade imminent that either fell through or is about to be announced? Time will tell, but there’s no better drama than late February or early March. … Loved the way the Flames answered the bell when it came to big hits by the Islanders fourth line. For Bouma to step up after the hit on Stajan and Bollig to step up twice after the hit on Giordano says a lot about the character in the room; good sign. … It seemed as though every time the Flames had their top line out with their top defense pairing they simply dominated. The group scored the Flame’s only goal but they had three other shifts completely pinning the Islanders deep in their zone and in trouble. … Thanks to Ryan Pike for pointing out Joni Ortio’s group 6 UFA situation of needing 10 starts to avoid being a UFA this summer. Tonight’s start knocks that down to 9, and with his second straight strong showing it makes it an interesting thing to watch down the stretch. Finding two goaltenders in a summer is pretty rough compared to having one in the stable. Here’s to hoping Ortio can continue to be solid. … Tanking is such an interesting thing. I can’t choose for a loss but I find myself almost hoping for spirited but disappointing outcomes; I’m torn. Imagine being a hockey player in the same situation. Take Mark Giordano versus say Joe Colborne. Colborne doesn’t have a future spot locked down so he has no choice to go full out, but if you’re Giordano don’t you want Austin Mathews vs Mike McLeod? Tough situation. Clearly Giordano never lets up making this a mute point. … The Russell scrap on 960 today. I’m so torn on eyes vs underlying stats but when I see the Flames year over year corsi with and without Russell it does create the question. Every blocked shot isn’t his turnover I agree, but if every player on the team has better shot differentials it says one of two things. 1) Russell does struggle or 2) Shot counters have a bias against Russell. Hard to see the latter as possible…
Next Up
Saturday night is retro night in Calgary with the Flames wearing the only jerseys they should ever wear on home ice against the Ottawa Senators, game time 8pm on Sportsnet.
Lines:
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Jiri Hudler
Joe Colborne – Mikael Backlund – Michael Frolik
Micheal Ferland – Sam Bennett- David Jones
Lance Bouma – Matt Stajan – Brandon Bollig
Mark Giordano – T.J. Brodie
Derryk Engellend – Dougie Hamilton
Tyler Wotherspoon – Jakub Nakladal
Joni Ortio
