Five observations from Calgary vs Winnipeg:
1. Slow starts continued This was always going to be a difficult game. Beyond facing an elite team on the road, the Flames had to deal with a wonky schedule coming out of the holiday break. If ever there was a spot to get out of the gate slowly, this was it. And the Flames did just that. Winnipeg's speed and aggressiveness caused all kinds of problems for a sluggish Calgary side. They spent a lot of the opening 20 on their heels (Jets won the shot battle by seven, chance battle by six) and were very lucky not to be trailing.
As a one-off, a start like that is understandable – especially given the circumstances. Big picture, it's beginning to be a little concerning as the Flames have come out completely flat in three of the last four games now. They need to buck that trend sooner than later.
2. Big Save Dave shined Another game, another excellent showing from Rittich. As I've already alluded to, the Flames were very sloppy early on. Mistakes were made, chances were conceded, and it simply didn't matter. Rittich came up with quite a few big stops and allowed the guys in front of him extra time to find their footing.
Led by Johnny Gaudreau, they snapped out of it in the 2nd period and provided Rittich with a couple goals of support. That turned out to be all he needed. Though the Flames reverted back to their 1st period form in the 3rd, Rittich once again was there to erase any opportunities the Jets generated. And there were plenty of them.
Rittich finished off with a 35/36 stat line, pushing his save percentage up to .926 on the year. He has been absolutely spectacular and more than proven he deserves to be the team's starter.
3. The top line came through again It wasn't their best performance. They didn't dominate territorially, pile up chances, or hem the Jets in for extended periods of time. It was more of a quick-strike, counter-attacking approach that resulted in success. That was certainly driven by Johnny Gaudreau, who showed why he could very well be considered for the Hart Trophy. Be it toe-drags or behind the back passes, he managed to slip the puck by Winnipeg's defenders and get it into dangerous areas of the ice. The give-and-go that led to the eventual game-winner was an absolute masterpiece, one in which all of the big three were involved in.
It's pretty crazy that even when they aren't at their best, they can still find ways to put together multi-point games. This line is the real deal.
4. James Neal was dangerous Speaking of the real deal, James Neal built on a strong showing in St. Louis (five attempts, nine primary shot contributions at 5v5) with a solid effort against Winnipeg. He led the team in attempts (7), chances (5) and high-danger looks (4), most of which came directly around the net. The end result? Yet another game without a goal. It's good that he's finally starting to threaten, though. At some point, his shockingly low 3.5 shooting percentage is going to regress and the goals will come. That will be sooner than later if he continues to generate chances.
5. The PK continues to excel The Flames did an excellent job of staying out of the box and limiting the number of opportunities Winnipeg's prolific power play had to work. It certainly paid off. They only took a couple penalties. They killed off the first one with relative ease, scored the dagger goal during the second one, and followed that up by drawing a penalty to cut it short. The end result was another game in which the Flames matched their opponent in chances *and* out-scored them while down a man. They really seem to have figured things out on the PK.
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