Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
New year, same result.
The Calgary Flames once again dropped their season opener last night as, despite outshooting the Edmonton Oilers 41-28, they found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-4 score.
The Good
- Not much went well for the Flames in this game. The penalty kill is one of the few things that did. They were extremely aggressive and not only did a fantastic job of limiting Edmonton's opportunities (they had three shots on six power plays) but also creating their own as they scored a pair of short handed markers. The Flames were dangerous on the PK last season and it appears that will be the case again this season.
- T.J. Brodie. Though he spent most of his time playing with Deryk Engelland as his defense partner he was still able to get things done. He had a team-high +12 shot attempt differential (20 for, eight against) at 5 v 5 and picked up an assist as well as three shots on goal while logging 26+ minutes.
- There was more good than bad in Matthew Tkachuk's NHL debut. He had a couple hits, a couple shots, a couple chances, his line was positive in possession and, quite frankly, he seemed to be in the middle of everything. Tkachuk didn't play a ton, in part due to all the penalties, but I thought he was pretty good when he was out there.
- The Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Kris Versteeg line did not account for any goals and were the Flames' worst line in possession, which isn't surprising given they played primarily against Connor McDavid and the Oscar Klefbom - Adam Larsson pairing at 5 v 5. Despite their lack of contributions the Flames still managed four goals. If they can get legitimate contributions from the bottom-9 this season it'll be huge for them.
The Bad
- Nicklas Grossman played just over 11 minutes and boy were they something. He made horrible turnovers on each of Edmonton's first two goals, he was bobbling the puck, getting caught on pinches because he doesn't have the foot speed to get back, etc. Everything he did seemed to blow up in his face. I think he single handedly submarined the entire game and should be watching the next one from the press box.
- I get the reasoning behind balancing the pairings, you get a top-pairing caliber player on all three this way, but the negative side of that is you give more minutes to the poor defenders and leave more opportunity for them to be exposed. If the Flames are going to stick with this they should make sure their best six defensemen are actually playing. I have no idea why Jyrki Jokipakka sat for Grossman.
- Right after the Flames got back into the game they allowed a quick goal to Connor McDavid and then conceded a penalty shot to him on what was an extremely soft call to say the least. When McDavid scored on that penalty shot it seemed to take the wind out of the team's sails.
- I'm not going to put this loss solely on Brian Elliott as the defense, notably Grossman, certainly didn't help him out. In saying that he was brought over to give the team legitimately good goaltending and he allowed six goals on 27 shots. That's never going to be good enough.
Stat Of The Game
Only Grossman logged less ice than Dougie Hamilton. I know the penalties dug into his minutes but I really hope we're not going down this road again.
Recent posts:
Flames sign Kris Versteeg
Flames, Gaudreau agree to long-term extension
Predicting the Pacific Division standings
Flames, Elliott working on contract extension
Pacific Division bold predictions
Hotstove: Pacific Division breakout players
Michael Ferland should score more next season
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»