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Five notes from Calgary vs Columbus:
1) In the pre-game, I talked about the Blue Jackets' excellent underlying numbers and how they may be legitimate contenders come playoff time.
It was pretty easy to see why in last night's contest as they controlled play for much of the night and completely smothered Calgary's offense. Almost everything was kept to the outside and any time the Flames managed to break through, Sergei Bobrovsky was there to shut the door (or they just missed the net entirely).
I mean, take a look at this heat-map. The Flames weren't exactly able to set up shop in dangerous areas.
2) Mike Smith was fantastic again and the lone reason the Flames were able to pick up a point. He wasn't peppered with high-danger chances, but there were certainly some breakdowns and he came up big every time he was called upon. After a few off games while he was fighting an injury, he seems to have found his early season form again. He has stopped 69 (nice) of 71 over the last two games and is back up to a .925 save percentage on the year.
3) It's hard to blame Glen Gulutzan for moving Sam Bennett down to the 4th line. He was getting caved in at 5v5 and was one of three Flames forwards not to register a single chance in that game state. Jaromir Jagr and Freddie Hamilton were the other two, but Jagr at least created chances for teammates (like when he pick-pocketed a defender and fed Kris Versteeg for a one-timer in the slot). Hamilton also had a legitimate excuse in that he played less than six minutes at full-strength. Bennett has to find a way to create at least some offense because he's not exactly a defensive stalwart.
4) I thought the T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic pairing played one of their better games of the season so, of course, a brutal turnover from Brodie led to the game's only goal. It's hard to get too upset about it, though, because the Flames realistically had no business being in the game or picking up even a point.
5) If there was one positive, besides Mike Smith, it was the play of Matthew Tkachuk. He had a team-high four scoring chances at 5v5, led the team with a 71.43 Corsi For%, and the Flames out-chanced the Jackets by six with him on the ice. He's a truly fantastic two-way player.
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Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers!
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