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Five observations from Calgary vs Buffalo:
1. What was that?
I've slept on it and the decision to leave Troy Brouwer on the ice for a defensive zone faceoff more than a minute into the overtime penalty kill makes as little sense to me now as it did at the time.
Brouwer is a winger and has won ~37% of his faceoffs since signing with the Flames. He had already lost a couple draws to Ryan O'Reilly, who has won over 61% this year, so I'm not sure why the coaching staff would have expected much different the third time.
After rewatching the draw a couple times, it looked like Brouwer actually tried to slap the puck forward and out of the zone.
I don't know if that was planned or simply Brouwer realizing he probably wouldn't win a draw against O'Reilly but, either way, I think the situation could have been handled better.
If the Flames wanted to launch the puck out because that side of the point wasn't covered, they could have tried a fresh right-handed player with experience at center (Marek Hrivik or Curtis Lazar) as opposed to Brouwer. Sending out a left-handed shot who plays on the PK (such as Sean Monahan, Sam Bennett or Mark Jankowski) and having them try to win it back so Michael Stone could hammer it out would have been preferable, too.
Faceoffs are generally overrated but they're very important during overtime, especially when the guys on the ice are not fresh.
2. Mike Smith stays hot
To the surprise of nobody, Smith had another strong start against Buffalo.
He wasn't peppered with high quality shots but he often made the first save with ease and ensured there were limited 2nd and 3rd chance opportunities available for Sabres to pounce on.
The only goals he allowed were handed to the Sabres on a silver platter. The official, and Jankowski, worked together to give Scott Wilson a freebie and the Jack Eichel overtime winner came directly off the free faceoff win vs a fatigued penalty killing unit.
Smith did his part but, unfortunately, the guys in front of him did not.
3. Matthew Tkachuk is cooking
Tkachuk continues to be a complete pain in the ass to play against for more than one reason. On top of being a super pest and having half the opposing team pissed off at hm every night, he's playing some of the best offensive hockey of his career.
Last night he tallied six shots on goal, five scoring chances, and scored on a beautiful deflection in tight to give him his 12th point in 12 games.
As far as I'm concerned, he's already one of the best players in the league around the net and below the dots. He has vision, he has hands, and you can't get the puck off him when he turns his back to you in the cycle.
4. Jack Eichel showed why he's Jack Eichel
This poor soul hasn't gotten much – any? – help since entering the league so he has to be fantastic in order for the Sabres to have a chance to win. That was certainly the case last night.
His speed and puck-handling ability made him very dangerous through the neutral zone, and off the rush, and he was also able to create quite a few opportunities after setting up shop in the offensive zone.
When all was said and done, he recorded a game-high seven shots on target, 13 shot attempts, and the overtime winner on a one-time blast. He was awesome.
5. The Flames underwhelmed at 5v5
There was a lengthy stretch of play in the 2nd period where the Flames really had the Sabres on their heels but, for the most part, they weren't very good at 5v5.
The Sabres had the better of the chances in the opening 20 minutes and, according to NaturalStatTrick, the Flames only generated *one* scoring opportunity in the 3rd period.
Some late penalties didn't help the cause but it's still pretty discouraging to be out-chanced by a very shallow Sabres team – particularly when you really need the points and are on home soil.
It kind of looked like the Flames took the Sabres lightly and thought they'd breeze to an easy victory. They paid the price for it.
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