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It wasn't pretty, but the Calgary Flames extended their winning streak to five games on Thursday night as they squeezed by the Arizona Coyotes in overtime.
A few notes:
1) With last night's win, the Flames are no 10-3-1 in their last 14 games. As a result, they are tied with Edmonton for 1st in the Pacific Division and Chicago is the only Western Conference team with more wins. Calgary has played more games than most, obviously, but to be where they are right now after how they started the season is impressive.
Their upcoming schedule is favorable, too, with eight of their next 12 being against non-playoff teams and two of the four are vs Wild Card teams in Anaheim and Winnipeg.
This next stretch is a good opportunity for the Flames to really solidify themselves as playoff contenders.
2) It's amazing to me that Mikael Backlund still doesn't get much recognition league-wide. He has truly developed into one of the best player drivers and two-way centers in the game.
Take this clip from last night's game, for example.
Backlund is deep in the defensive zone to support his defense. He gives his man (Martin Hanzal) a shove, pickpockets him while he's off balance, skates through the neutral zone, gains the line with possession and dishes it off to Matthew Tkachuk. That work from Backlund resulted in a couple scoring chances, four shot attempts and some sustained offensive zone time before the Coyotes really regained possession and were able to do anything.
Plays like that can get lost over the course of the game -- they don't really stand out to the casual observer -- but it shows just how good Backlund is and how big of an impact he makes.
3) Another game, another excellent performance from Dougie Hamilton. He was good in possession, he made a beautiful play while scoring the game-winning-goal, he had a game-high six shots and only Johnny Gaudreau and Chad Johnson, both of whom were excellent, finished with a higher game score.
Have we reached the point where people stop pretending he's been struggling as a Flame, or are we still running with that narrative and trying to run him out of town?
For my money, he's been the Flames' best defenseman this season and I'm not sure it's really been close.
4) I doubt the Flames feel the same way, but I think I prefer Garnet Hathaway to Lance Bouma, especially when factoring in contracts. Neither player is particularly good but Hathaway seems to get around the ice better, which allows him to close quicker when forechecking and gives him the opportunity to finish players off on a more frequent basis.
There are better alternatives than both (Hunter Shinkaruk, for example) but if the Flames want to keep a physical 4th liner in the lineup I think I'd rather see Hathaway. Maybe it's just me.
Recent posts:
Flames stay hot as Johnson leads them by Stars
Flames roll past Ducks in Gaudreau's return
Predicting the Pacific Division standings
Pacific Division bold predictions
Pacific Division breakout players
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