Five notes on Calgary's win over the Western Conference-leading St. Louis Blues:
1) Considering the opponent, I think that was one of the best games the Flames have played all season. They carried play for much of the night and it always felt like they were in control. Even when the Blues would score a goal to tie things up, the Flames quickly ramped things up a notch and regained the lead. They always had an answer.
Whether you look at the standings or the underlying numbers, the Blues are one of the top teams in the league so to outshoot them by 13, out-chance them by seven, and trail for less than two minutes is impressive.
2) The Flames scoring like crazy has quietly masked the fact they've had poor goaltending of late. Over the last four games, the team has allowed 16 goals and Mike Smith/Eddie Lack combined to stop just 86% of the shots they've faced. Smith seemed to be fighting something injury-wise the last couple starts, and Lack was forced into an uncomfortable situation last night, but it's tough to win games, even during a short stretch, with that kind of goaltending.
3) Mark Jankowski played by far the best game of his young career and was full marks for his three-point game. He lived around the net, fired five pucks on target, recorded a game-high five chances, and it just felt like one of those games where everything he touched turned into a scoring opportunity. He has looked good on a line with Sam Bennett and Jaromir Jagr so it was nice to see them all get rewarded.
Somewhere Jay Feaster is smiling pic.twitter.com/Jzdb4KtL2s
— Mike Pfeil (@mikeFAIL) November 14, 2017
4) I'm so glad Micheal Ferland is finally getting a regular shift on the top power play unit as opposed to Troy Brouwer. Ferland is tougher to move around the net, has a better chance of winning races to loose pucks, and, simply put, is a much better player than Brouwer. He deserves the opportunity.
5) Travis Hamonic saw less ice than every defenseman but Brett Kulak, who I thought played well once again, at 5v5 and overall. I don't know if it's because Gulutzan thought he was struggling (he was) or because he's still fighting an injury, but the usage was interesting nonetheless. I'm interested to see if the ice time cut continues next time out.