A few quick Calgary Flames thoughts:
1) It was so nice to see Tobias Rieder pot a couple of goals Saturday night. First and foremost, he deserved to be rewarded. He’s piled up the chances all preseason long – Rieder leads the team with 12 – and just hasn’t had any finishing luck. Considering he didn’t score once last season, it had to feel good getting the monkey off of his back. Particularly against his former team, which, y'know, kind of blamed him for not making the playoffs.
Two different leadership styles:
— Bruce McCurdy (@BruceMcCurdy) April 25, 2019
Kyle Dubas: "When you're looking to assign blame, look at me & me alone."
Bob Nicholson: "If Toby Rieder would have scored 10 or 12 goals we'd probably be in the playoffs."
I don’t think he should be playing over Andrew Mangiapane, Austin Czarnik, and co., but I’m glad he’s sticking around as a rotational forward. He has earned it.
2) Big Save Dave entered camp as the favorite to start opening night and only solidified his job as the 1A with strong preseason play. He looked very sharp again vs Edmonton, stopping 26 of 28 shots he faced and making some highlight reel saves in the process (he went post-to-post on Leon Draisaitl, stayed with Zack Kassian – I know – on a breakaway deke, etc.).
All included, he posted a .950 save percentage over four preseason appearances. He’s heading into the season on a high note, which is good because there’s a stiff test coming opening night in Colorado.
3) If Andrew MacDonald makes the team, he’s almost certainly going to be partnered with Rasmus Andersson each time he dresses. The early returns on them as a pairing are not exactly encouraging. Two games is two games but they’ve controlled ~31% of the attempts and ~25% of the expected goals in nearly 30 minutes together. This while playing watered down competition.
Please, for the love of God, use Oliver Kylington as the primary LD3. MacDonald, while I still think he’s an OK depth piece, is not very good, and Michael Stone looks absolutely washed. Kylington’s ceiling is so much higher.
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