x.
The Flow
Not much of a period to be honest, the period didn’t have any goals, very few shots and even fewer scoring chances. Both teams bottled things up and kept the puck from the high danger areas, so in that sense it was an effective period from a defensive standpoint. Calgary gases an early powerplay, and Nakladal takes a late one that hangs into the second period. Kind of what you’d expect from two teams with zero chance of having their season progress past mid April.
Hey goal scoring! The Flames open the scoring when red hot Mikael Backlund scores his fourth goal in the last five games, converting a gimmee from linemate Michael Frolik who stripped the Arizona defender and fed Backlund for a wide open shorty. The Coyotes not to be out done scored their own short handed goal in the period when Martinook fed an air borne line drive through the slot that was batted in incredibly by former Oiler Boyd Gordon. Shots 16-16 through two periods in a 1-1 tie.
With the game on the line in the third the Flames simply came up empty. Not a lot of push from the homeside, and the Coyotes were only too happy to take advantage and put a kibosh on their 10 game road losing streak. The Yotes go ahead 2-1 when Antoine Vermette got in behind Ortio and tipped a puck home on a powerplay. Arizona doubled their lead on the back of the speed of young Max Domi who pushed the puck up the ice before flipping it over to Shane Doan who was stopped by Ortio only to have Richardson backhand in the rebound to make it 3-1. Ironically a great pass by Gaudreau to Monahan almost had the game tied at two before the puck went the other way. An empty netter made it 4-1 Arizona in the end.
Three Stars
1. Antoine Vermette: One of those rare traded at the deadline but return the next summer players, Vermette with Hawk cup ring on his finger scored the game winner in the third and added an assist.
2. Louis Dominque : Only faced 25 shots (same as Ortio) but stopped 24 of them in making a difference and getting the win for the Coyotes.
3. Mikael Backlund: Another strong game for the ultimate third line center. Scores Calgary’s only goal, his fourth in five games to keep his streak going.
Big Save
With the Flames buzzing in the second period the puck slid out to Micheal (can’t spell Michael) Ferland who’s saucer sized eyes didn’t fool Domingue who was able to get both a right pad and a glove on the one timer that would have given Calgary a 2-1 lead.
The Goat
None of the Flames played particularly well, but the guy I noticed fighting the puck the most was Mark Giordano. Ugly cough up early that wasn’t converted but turned the puck over a few more times and was -2 on the night.
Mr. Clutch
Shane Doan. Alberta native was seen tirelessly signing autographs before the game and turned in two assists. The ageless wonder is 40 in October but not showing it on the ice at all. Great human being.
Odds and Ends
Well clearly we have to talk about the Dennis Wideman fiasco. One word (no this isn’t a Loubardias reference), sad. The Flames didn’t really miss him and given their plight in the standings they honestly didn’t need him. But it’s a shame to see the level of politics, optics, and public relations getting in the way of a the obvious answer that was finally handed out today; 10 games. Ten games says a player did something wrong, 20 games says he intended to do something wrong, and it took almost 7 weeks to come to this? Why would a player target a linesman? He wouldn’t, and didn’t so the 20 games was a complete farce from the beginning. The NHL should trust that they offer a great product and be comfortable being who they are, and avoid reacting to twitter they way they did at the all star break. Embarrassing to see grown men act like frightened children. …. Hoping Doan goes coast to coast with the Arizona franchise. He’ll have an asterisk because of the team’s start in Winnipeg but the class act should be cherished in that market and never let to walk on July 1st or traded at a deadline. Love those stories. … Another night where I don’t mind Ferland on the top line but then I don’t really see it working either. The Flames are razor thing in top six wingers right now, something that clearly needs to be addressed in the summer. … Joni Ortio had his first 3 goals against game since the Ottawa game three weeks ago but really couldn’t be faulted on any of the goals, that is unless you see him as wandering too much. He let Vermette get behind him on the 2nd goal, and was out of the play having made the stop on the third goal by Richardson. … The loss snaps the Flames streak of points in games at three, and moves their homestand to 1-1-1 and keeps them at 4th last in the league, burning one of their 3 games in hand on the Oilers. … The Joni Ortio UFA count is now down to 5 games, making it very likely that he will remain in Flame’s control, but with 3 given up tonight you have to wonder if we may see Backstrom against St. Louis on Monday.
Next Up
Game four of the 6 game home stand goes Monday when the Flames host the St. Louis Blues, game time 7pm on Sportsnet.
3>Lines:
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan- Micheal Ferland
Kenny Agostino – Mikael Backlund – Michael Frolik
Lance Bouma – Joe Colborne – Josh Jooris
Brandon Bollig- Matt Stajan – Garnet Hathaway
Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie
Jyrki Jokipakka – Dougie Hamilton
Jacub Nakladal – Dennis Wideman
Joni Ortio
