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Five takeaways from Calgary's overtime win in Los Angeles:
1) The good news: Mike Smith provided the Flames with yet another excellent performance between the pipes.
The bad news: the Flames *needed* another strong showing from Smith to have a chance.
They allowed 45 shots, and 49 chances(!!), to a Kings team not exactly known for its offensive firepower, and have not conceded at least 40 shots three times in four games. The Flames have played some good teams, but that's not an encouraging trend for a team that a) wants to contend and; b) is supposed to have one of the best defense cores in the league.
They really need to tighten up, and fast, because the Flames can't expect Smith to continually stop 40 shots a night, and still be remotely fresh come playoff time, and Eddie Lack simply isn't good enough to handle that kind of workload.
2) As usual, the 3M line was excellent but Matthew Tkachuk, in particular, really stood out to me. He lived around the net and seemingly had a good look there every time he touched the ice. He scored a pair of goals, had eight shots on target, nine(!!!) scoring chances -- Michael Frolik was second on the team with four -- and made Drew Doughty so mad he threw a temper tantrum. Oh, and he drew a penalty, too. This kid is special.
3) It's nice to see we're still doing the thing where T.J. Brodie plays 26+ minutes and Dougie Hamilton plays less than Michael Stone. Not only that, he ranked 6th among Flames defensemen in 5v5 time on ice. I really don't get it. I mean, why wouldn't you want to play the heck out of a guy who ranked 2nd to only Brent Burns in 5v5 points per 60 and 5v5 shots per 60?
4) I thought Jaromir Jagr was OK in his debut. He made a couple nice plays, but it wasn't as if the Flames dictated play when he was on the ice. I expect he'll get better each game as he becomes more comfortable with the Flames' system and his linemates.
5) The top line was surprisingly caved in by Anze Kopitar's unit at 5v5. When both were on the ice, the Kings out-chanced the Flames 12-3. The broadcast went out of its way to pump Kopitar's tires last night and rightfully so - he was everywhere. That was a vintage performance.
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