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Playing a team who has also been struggling of late, the Flames gave the Columbus Blue Jackets a run for their money as the game would require four periods to be finalized.
Not a high scoring game, the first goal of the night would come from a shot on net by Columbus forward Nick Foligno in the first period which was directed into the net off of Calgary defender Chris Butler’s skate. The game would end up being a very low scoring and arguably poor in terms of offensive opportunities as the highest shot total for any of the three periods was nine.
Having 18 shots total for Columbus, and 24 shots total for Calgary, the game itself would end up being more of a defensive back and forth type game than a quick match where chances are exchanged. That said, there were certainly some highlights to be discussed such as Reto Berra absolutely robbing Jack Johnson of a goal by stacking his pads.
“I was too far out. I thought (Johansen) was going to shoot, then he passed it,” Berra said. “So I was way too late and I had nothing else that I could do. I just tried to bring something from my body there and it hits me right on my skate. That was for sure luck, too.”
I have to say, I have been very impressed with the progression of Berra’s game. Playing back to back games, loss after loss, he maintains focus and doesn’t seem to lose his desire to be his best. Beyond his apparent work ethic, the other thing I’ve noticed about Berra is that he seems to be a rather humble guy.
Displayed by the 26 year old, a highlight reel save such as that deserved some credit and yet how does he respond? “That was for sure luck”. What’s more, at the end of game after losing to the Jackets in OT, the first sight is Berra lying face down, belly to the ice, pounding the ice in disbelief. This guy has got heart. Good on you, Berra.
To move back to the game discussion, there wasn’t a ton of great offensive chances as it appeared that both team were playing a shutdown style of hockey by playing the body and not taking too many risks. It would take another full period and a half for the Flames to tie up the game after a perfect long stretch pass by Kris Russell to David Jones who sprung Joe Colborne on a break. With his long reach and ability to protect the puck, Colborne got an extra stride on Jackets defense and put his backhand shot up over netminder Bobrovski.
Despite a few late chances for either side to take the game in regulation, an extra period would be needed to seal the win. Just over half way through OT, Columbus would get an odd man rush which resulted in a few saves made by Berra but soon enough ended up on the stick of Nikita Nikitin who took his first goal of the season and game winner.
While not the most exciting game of the year, I felt the team improved upon some defensive parts of their game which ultimately led to fewer offensive chances. As we’ve discussed, Calgary has been doing very poorly in certain stats such as their specialty teams, though last night they were able to improve upon such stats by going 0/3 on their PK. After last night, they have moved up from 28th to 27th for the PK and have improved upon their hit totals as they were ranked 25th just over a week ago and are now ranked 19th.
Baby steps.
As the title alluded to, there is no doubt that rookie Sean Monahan is looking to earn his role and make an impact with this club as he continues to impress game by game. With a few nifty moves last night, a nice shootout winner in the game before, Monahan at the age of 19 is already looking to take on a big role with this club.
“I want to be able to be a go-to guy in this league at some point,” said Monahan. “I’m trying to earn everything I get.”
“I just try to pay attention to little details. I get the opportunity to put points up and score goals, but I think you’ve just got to work hard and go to the net hard and hope for the best,” he said.
And how does his coach feel about his performance so far?
“He had a couple of games where it was tough for him to generate some offence, but he always found a way to do something good. He’s a fun kid to work with,” Hartley said.
“For me, with anyone, as long as they’re going to work, they’re going to be in the lineup, if they’re attitude is great and they want to go. He’s a big part of our present, and more importantly, of our future, and our job as a coaching staff is to make sure we teach him the right way and, at the same time, we let him express his unbelievable talent.”
I would be hard pressed to believe at the rate which this particular player is developing that the Flames will be sending him down to the juniors and or lending him to play in the WJC. While it may be an important call to make to send Monahan down before the 45 game mark to avoid having him reach UFA eligibility a year earlier than he would otherwise, his game is currently at the level of an NHL player and the team may see no benefit to sending him down.
What do you think?
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