Update: Per Wes Gilbertson, Adam Ruzicka is working with the fourth line in practice. Tyler Pitlick was absent from practice today in Vegas.
With their fifth straight road victory last night, the Flames are now tied for first place in the NHL 24 games into the 21-22 season. They hold a two point lead on the rest of the Western Conference and a three point lead in the division over the Edmonton Oilers. If they can maintain this level of play; it’s probably fair to assume Darryl Sutter is a finalist, if not winner, of the Jack Adams Trophy. Here’s a few observations of Calgary’s 3-2 shootout win over the Anaheim Ducks.
The Ducks deserve to be where they are While their forward group could use a player or two, the Ducks looked great last night. They held pace with the Flames for 65 minutes and truly earned their point. Their top four defensemen in particular looked very solid.
That said, there are cracks showing. They lost both Ryan Getzlaf and Adam Henrique to injuries within the last 24 hours. There’s now pressure on centers Trevor Zegras, Rickard Rackell and Sam Steel to handle big minutes. Rackell has played through injuries himself in the last few seasons.
Josh Manson and Matthew Tkachuk still don’t like each other Some of you may remember these two players dropping the gloves years ago. Last night after a shot from behind from Calder candidate Trevor Zegras, they were once again escalating with one another. Nothing came of it, but it’s something to watch for on December 21st when these two teams play again.
Secondary offence heating up It was nice to see Blake Coleman and Sean Monahan combine for three points and 11 shots. Offensive depth is an important safety net in the chance that players like Lindholm, Gaudreau or Mangiapane get injured or go cold.
Stealth misconduct You may be surprised to read this, so make sure you are sitting down. Andrew Mangiapane racked up ten penalty minutes last game. I was surprised myself. When did this happen? Checking the box score; the penalty was assessed at 5:00 of overtime.
Clearly some digging was required. The commentators of both feeds had zero mention of a game misconduct as overtime concluded. The only evidence was a shot of number 88 waiting by the doors between overtime and the shootout, then skating off camera.
Upon reviewing Mangiapane’s shifts in the third and overtime: he took a beating in the Anaheim end several shifts in a row. At the end of each shift he could be seen circling back to the refs to share his thoughts.
Apparently he took one last crack at it after overtime concluded. He got a misconduct and would not have been allowed to have a turn in the shootout. Cheeky.
The Flames have the night off and are in Vegas tomorrow to play the Golden Knights. Hopefully they’re spending the day off in Anaheim — otherwise the Vegas Flu may be a factor.
Game time is 8pm MST.
Trevor Neufeld