There’s never a better time than a win when the front page of a Calgary newspaper asks “Fire the Coach?”.
What rabid fans demanding answers and well heads to roll, the Flames played one of their better games of the season in a solid 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night, ending a four game losing streak and perhaps keeping the wolves at bay for the time being.
Not only did Chad Johnson pick up the shut out, quite the feat for the NHL’s worst defensive club, but the game winner from Johnny Gaudreau was on the powerplay giving the Flames one of their few special team victories on the season.
Turning point? Blip in a sea of despair? We’ll start to find out quickly as they’re back at it tomorrow night.
The Flow
Teams that are struggling have a few items on their wish list when they head out on the road, and scoring first is certainly one of them. Surviving with that lead after one period is quite likely another one. The Flames pulled that feat off tonight when Johnny Gaudreau took a great feed from Mark Giordano and split the Wild defense before going backhand on Devan Dubnyk to put the Flames up 1-0. From there however they were lucky. Very, very lucky. They turned the puck over, they gave up odd man rushes, they got hemmed in their own zone, they had pucks zing off the goal post behind Chad Johnson. But they escaped with that 1-0 lead despite being out shot 10-7 and outchanced by a margin larger than that.
The Flames were much better in the second, settling in to a safer, more profound road game and somewhat limiting the Wild’s chances. The period was full of penalties, including as stretch towards the middle of the period where 5 straight calls over lapped each other in a chaotic mixture of 5 on 4, 4 on 4, 4 on 3 and 5 on 3, all without any production. The Flames out shot the Wild 13-9 in the period and were full marks for protecting their lead and playing a better 200 foot brand of hockey.
A great third for the Flames, where save for the final minute they controlled the play and kept the Wild from threatening all that much. Their best chance through the bulk of the period was a partial break for Charlie Coyle but Chad Johnson was equal to the task. It looked like the Wild didn’t have a whole lot of fight in them until Sean Monahan broke his stick with the Wild goalie pulled resulting in a complete mosh pit in front of the Calgary cage at the buzzer. But the Flames prevail, handing Chad Johnson his 5th career shutout, and a 1-0 win. Shots on goal in the third 8-7 Minnesota.
1. Chad Johnson:Was razor sharp to start off the game when the Flames came out flat footed against the Wild assault, and then was steady the rest of the way as his team provided a lot more help.
2. Johnny Gaudreau: Scored the team’s only goal, drew a key penalty, so was the difference maker in a low scoring game.
3. Devan Dubnyk:Same number of shots, but one less save for the reclamation made all star goaltender for the Wild. Great game but was bested by a deft Gaudreau backhander.
Big Save
With about 5 minutes on the clock and things seemingly under control Charlie Coyle broke in with a chance but was bested by an agile Chad Johnson who got square to the puck and gave the big winger nothing to shoot at. Smart game by Johnson.
The Goat
Thought for sure this one was going to go to Calgarian Matt Dumba for his drop the mitts take down on Hathaway in the third period. If you want to defend your goaltender for a bump you have to square up, you can’t jump a guy from behind. The Flames didn’t convert on the gifted powerplay however so escapes unharmed. No real goat in a tight game with two solid goaltenders.
Mr. Clutch
Thought TJ Brodie looked a lot like, well, TJ Brodie tonight and with that he gets that unheralded award tonight. He was quick and clean with the puck giving the Wild very little in his 26 minutes of ice time. Good sign if this guy has found it again.
Odds and Ends
All kinds of change from Gulutzan, both up front and in the defence pairs, well I guess in goal as well, after the Flames were handed their fourth straight loss on Saturday night against the Rangers. Troy Brouwer moved up to play with Monahan and Gaudreau, something we thought we’d see when his signing was announced in July. Sam Bennett moves to the left side to play with Stajan and Chiasson. Tkachuk returns to the lineup and took up the wing with Backlund and Frolik, and Freddie Hamilton centered Ferland and Hathaway. On the blueline Kulak goes back to Engelland and Hamilton lined up with Giordano, and finally Brodie with Wideman. Phew! My thoughts on all of that? I’d rather see Bennett with Backlund and Frolik if they’re going to move him away from center. They had a great stretch last season and perhaps they’d be the catalyst to turning things around. Chiasson off the top line is great, but not sure he helps out the Bennett line much either. I like the guy but his hands are stone and he’s killing the cycle. On the blueline they have to get a mix that has Wideman in the third pairing and not with a guy that should be getting 25 minutes a night. And please get Hamilton to the top powerplay unit. .. Had to laugh at Kelly Hrudey when Rick Ball’s mic malfunctioned in the third period. Hrudey had to take over play by play duties for a few minutes and I think he only uttered a phrase or two otherwise left quiet. Not the same job as colour commentary. … Johnny Gaudreau left twice after slashes to the hand tonight, the first by Suter hurt him but he returned. The second from Staal had him not returning to the game for the rest of the third period. Not good. … Funny how getting the 18 year old back in the lineup adds some jam to the Flames game play. He really gave the Backlund/Frolik line a boost as they had been less than stellar in the Flames skid themselves. Even a nice little scrum with Mikael Backlund overtly aggressive in helping out the youngster on his left side.
Next Up
In a schedule oddity, the one game road trip ends tonight, but they play tomorrow night in Calgary, and a late game to boot. Yikes. Game time tomorrow night against the Coyotes is 8pm on Sportsnet.
Lines:
Gaudreau – Monahan – Brouwer
Bennett – Stajan – Chiasson
Tkachuk – Backlund – Frolik
Ferland – Hamilton – Hathaway
Giordano – Hamilton
Brodie – Brodie
Kulak – Engelland
Johnson
