Three weeks ago the call was to clean house.
Jonas Hiller was crumbling before our very eyes, Kari Ramo had is knee destroyed and was out for the season and a risky player to sign in the summer. And Joni Ortio was inconsistent as all get up, struggling both at the NHL level to star the season and then again in the American Hockey League when he got sent down.
Hold your horses, Joni Ortio is making a statement. Tonight the Flames may have blown a two goal lead in the third period, but Ortio and his team stood tall in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night. The win gives the Flames points in three straight games (2-0-1) to alleviate the ugly memory of a recent 7 game losing streak.
Tank? What tank?.
The Flow
The Flames pretty much picked up where they left off on Monday, in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Sharks that featured the Flames heavily carrying the play. Some good jump early but the game remains scoreless to the ten minute mark when Johnny Gaudreau broke the game open with two goals in ten seconds to put the Flames up 2-0. His first was a back of the net special that had a review from Toronto to verify it’s lightning quick entry and exit from the net. His second was all foot speed as he caught a stumbling Predator on the rush and beat Carter Hutton through the wickets. Calgary leads 2-0 after one period of play.
The Flames keep on keeping on in the second as the Predators looked to be either heavily overlooking their opposition, or just simply out played by their hosts as the Flames continue to push, and Hutton keeps Nashville from getting chased. Some great chances in the period including Ferland on a partial break, and Monahan on a one timer but the period is scoreless leaving the game 2-0 Calgary heading to the third; Ortio protecting that unmentionable through 40 minutes.
The third period was almost predictable. A rolling team like Nashville playing a team out of time in Calgary, you just knew they’d pour it on, the question was how well the Flames would fare in weathering the storm. Eventually things gave. The Predators finally got on the scoreboard when Bitetto converted a fortunate bounce into an empty net for his first of his career. A few minutes later with the goalie pulled another good bounce rolls on to Mike Fisher’s stick who slides it home and sends the game to overtime.
In the extra frame it was the Gaudreau show again. This time a pass from Giordano creates a two on one with Mikael Backlund. Gaudreau waits out Shea Webber and slides the puck to Backlund who puts home his 14th of the season to win it in extra time.
Three Stars
1. Johnny Gaudreau: Two goals and an assist as the little dude keeps building on career totals in both goals and points.
2. Mike Fisher : Fisher scores the tying goal, and assists on the first goal of the game to pace the Predators.
3. Sean Monahan: Had an assist on each of Gaudreau’s goal and had a mittful of chances himself as he put 5 shots on goal for the Flames.
Big Save
In the first period Mike Ribeiro found himself all alone in front of the Flames goal when he corralled a rebound in front of Joni Ortio. Being the Flame killer he’s always been it was a natural goal right? Think again. Ortio makes not one but two right pad saves to keep the game 2-0 Calgary at the time.
The Goat
Sportsnet. Why do they insist on a network double header with only 2.5 hours allowed for the first game? How many times are we going to see the first game go to overtime or worse a shoot out resulting in the second game getting robbed of viewership? They should give viewers the option of guaranteeing the game they want to see by jumping the regional channel to the game in the region on time so your PVR isn’t a mess when you get home from coaching your kid’s Bantam playoff game.
Mr. Clutch
Joni Ortio. We’ve seen some sketchy goaltending this season, and that’s likely flattering. So to see Ortio refuse to cough up that ugly goal in the first 50 minutes of the game that would have swung the momentum from Calgary’s early start was a nice change of pace for the team. It’s great to see Ortio pushing himself into the conversation for next season. It’s much easier to go shopping for one goaltender instead of two.
Odds and Ends
The Flames really don’t seem like a 28th place team (or bottom four by win percentage). They have too many pieces and play too well too often to really fit that bill. A season long goaltending issue made worse by brutal special teams had them pretty much done in January, but they really seem like a team with a move or two creating a pretty good push up the standings next season. … Johnny Gaudreau’s two goals in 10 seconds was 4 seconds shy of the club record set by Lanny McDonald. … If you haven’t had a chance to read Doug Gilmour’s Player Tribune article writing to himself as a 13 year old you should. It’s the best of its type I’ve seen on the site; he’s a really witty guy. Great insight into his exit from Calgary and his regrets for how he overreacted to a personal feud with GM Doug Risebrough. The guy was a warrior in Calgary, he never should have left. … Undisclosed injuries to both Sam Bennett and TJ Brodie makes the overtime victory even more impressive. Hopefully neither injury are that serious as they both play important roles in Calgary; Bennett as the third line center (only real offensive player in the bottom six), and TJ Brodie who literally stirs the drink for the Flames. If these two are out long term you can put any thoughts of tanking aside as wins will be tough to come by. … Standings update on the night has two points for the Leafs, two for the Canucks and one for the Coyotes. The Flames jump past the Oiler and Jets into 27th spot in the league making Friday’s game interesting as they are just two points back of the Coyotes. … Really rooting for Mikael Backlund in getting to 20 goals. It’s unlikely that he scores 6 more in the final 15 games but it would be a great story for a very deserving player. Points-wise I like his chance of a career high and even better topping 40 points as he has 35 after tonight’s goal.
Next Up
The Flames homestand continues on Friday when the Arizona Coyotes come to town, game time 7pm on Sportsnet.
3>Lines:
Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan- Michael Frolik
Micheal Ferland – Mikael Backlund – Garnet Hathaway
Lance Bouma – Sam Bennett- Joe Colborne
Brandon Bollig- Matt Stajan – Josh Jooris
Mark Giordano – TJ Brodie
Jyrki Jokipakka – Dougie Hamilton
Jacub Nakladal – Tyler Wotherspoon
Joni Ortio
