The Calgary Flames concluded their road trip through Eastern Canada with a much-needed two points as Johnny Gaudreau led them to an overtime win in the nation's capital.
A few notes: 1) Gaudreau has received a lot of criticism of late for not scoring so I'll start with him. I thought he was the best player in this game. He was flying around the ice and creating chances almost every shift. Gaudreau scored the game-winner after a nice game of catch with Mikael Backlund, he started the Sean Monahan goal with a controlled zone entry before dishing it off to Dougie Hamilton, and he led all skaters with a plus-11 shot attempt differential. He was awesome.
2) Sean Monahan's goal of the year candidate gives him six goals in his last eight games. He has fired at least three shots on net in seven of those games so it's no fluke he's starting to score with a lot more frequency. He needs to keep it up coming out of the break.
Wowwwwwww pic.twitter.com/YMZ3ZOKcRf
— FlamesNation (@FlamesNation) January 27, 2017
3) Last night's 5v5 numbers were very encouraging.
The Gaudreau - Monahan - Frolik line had a nice debut and Tkachuk/Backlund still made noise with Chiasson. pic.twitter.com/4E5eG0lveN
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) January 27, 2017
Frolik really helped get Gaudreau and Monahan going on the top unit, and Alex Chiasson didn't weigh down the greatness of Matthew Tkachuk and Mikael Backlund enough to pull them into the red. The top two lines might have to stick for a while. Actually, no. Get Chiasson out of the top-6.
4) Brian Elliott stopped 25-27. Brian Elliott posted a .926 save percentage. Brian Elliott gave the Flames a quality start. Brian Elliott should get the nod in the first game coming out of the break.
5) For all the ups and downs the Flames have had this season, they're in a playoff spot heading into the all-star break. They're 10th in the West in points percentage, but they're in a playoff spot. All things considered, they should be happy with where they're at and that they have a lot to play for in the 2nd half. Recharge over the break, come back and start to play at the level they were before this recent slump. You can't convince me they aren't better than Vancouver, for example. Play like it.