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Gaudreau, Monahan shine as Flames beat up on the Kings

March 20, 2017, 11:31 AM ET [98 Comments]
Todd Cordell
Calgary Flames Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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The Calgary Flames continued their winning ways on Sunday night as they dismantled the Los Angeles Kings and delivered a huge blow to their playoff chances in the process.

A few notes from the game:

1) While the win was big, the key story from this game was Matthew Tkachuk's elbow on Drew Doughty, which has earned him a hearing with the Department of Player Safety -- and rightfully so.

I love Tkachuk's game. He is a fantastic player and his willingness to take on anyone and everyone who gets in his way is part of what makes him so good.

In saying that, he has crossed the line a few times this season and last night was another example of that. He could have easily concussed one of the league's best players with a blatant/unnecessary elbow and he deserves to be punished for that.



2) Speaking of Tkachuk, it was another great night for the 3M line. They didn't fill the scoresheet like when the faced Dallas but they out-chanced the Kings 7-3 with that unit on the ice despite primarily going up against Jeff Carter's line.

3) Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan didn't have their old pal Micheal Ferland by their side against the Kings but they still managed to stay hot piling up three points apiece. Gaudreau, in particular, has been great of late as he has tallied at least three points four different times over the last 13 games. That's insane.

4) After a long wait, Curtis Lazar made his Flames debut and I thought he was pretty good. He had a few solid hits, the chances were even when he was on the ice, and he picked up his second point of the season on an empty net goal. That was a solid foundation game. He just needs to keep building on it.

5) Brian Elliott has won 11 consecutive starts and allowed two or less in nine of those games. His first half was poor, obviously, but as soon as Glen Gulutzan stopped with the rotation, committed to Elliott, and gave him some rope it paid off. I think Elliott is playing his way into a contract extension with the team, which is definitely preferable to overpaying for a 'big name' like Ben Bishop.

Recent posts:

3M line comes through again as Flames top Stars

On Stone's play as a Flame, Tkachuk's incredible year and more

On the Lazar trade, sticking with Elliott and more

Pacific Division bold predictions
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