We’ll begin today with an apology. I work landscaping to keep the lights on. It snowed a lot this weekend. Thankfully, we have a reprieve.
That said, who else is a little speechless about this last month of hockey?
To catch up, at 7-2-2, the Calgary Flames are currently tied for the best record in the NHL in November with Winnipeg and Minnesota. All three teams have 16 points in 11 games. Winnipeg has one more win, so Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska will have to admit that the tie-breaker goes to the Jets.
While some players have heated up in the last ten days (Coronato, Sharangovich, Weegar), most of the credit should be given to the defence. Matthew Coronato and MacKenzie Weegar are in a 31-way tie for 86th in NHL scoring in the month of November with seven points.
Meanwhile, Dustin Wolf has a 5-0-1 record and a .944 save percentage on the month. His 1.62 goals against average over that period is Kiprusoff-esque.
The defence has certainly helped. Pardon the lack of accuracy, but Megan Mikkelson was rattling off stats in the pre-game against Minnesota and MacKenzie Weegar sat near the top of the league in puck recoveries. The pairing of Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl were also around first place in zone denials. We assume she was quoting SportsLogiq.
Listen, when you're calve-high in snow trying to operate a Husqvarna snow blower and manage a heavy scraper with each hand; you miss the odd detail.
A brief aside about SportsLogiq. They operate out of Quebec and their statistics are so fun to get access to. I had a call with them a few years ago and got a sample of their game sheets. Their pricing is more in line for a corporate budget, but Sportsnet or TSN sometimes dish out for it.
The Flames have allowed only seven goals against at 5-on-5 off of turnovers. Good for second place across the NHL in that category.
— TrevorNeufeld (@Trevor_Neufeld) November 25, 2024
Per SportsLogiq via TSN. #Flames
Strong defence, laughably slow offence, and fantastic goaltending seems to be the name of the game.
The fact that the Flames are competing for first in the Pacific Division despite carrying the 30th-highest cap hit ($69.25M) is surely a testament to how enigmatic this organization truly is. There is no team like the Flames.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup Courtesy of Derek Wills. @Fan960Wills
Huberdeau-Zary-Coleman Pospisil-Kadri-Kuzmenko Sharangovich-Backlund-Coronato Lomberg-Rooney-Kirkland
Bahl-Andersson Weegar-Miromanov Hanley-Pachal
Wolf Vladar
Ottawa Senators Projected Lineup Sunday’s practice lines courtesy of TSN1200. @TSN1200 No word on a starting goaltender.
Tkachuk-Stützle-Gaudette Giroux-Norris-Batherson Greig-Pinto-Cousins Amadio-Ostapchuk-Perron
Sanderson-Hamonic Chabot-JBD Kleven-Jensen
A Change of Pace It is highly advised to tune in a bit early to the Amazon Broadcast of this Flames-Senators game. Prime shows the warmups accompanied by just music. It is indescribably refreshing.
I’m still cracking up over this shot at the end of warmups. #Flames pic.twitter.com/lsNB7FT3rK
— TrevorNeufeld (@Trevor_Neufeld) November 12, 2024
Deep Issues You may have noticed that 34-year-old Travis Hamonic is starting the night on the first pairing.
While 34 is not exactly old, there isn’t much tread left on those tires. Senators fans aren’t particularly happy about their blue line situation. Hamonic appeared to have his best days behind him before he departed the Flames organization in 2020.
The St. Malo, Manitoba product has a -8 even strength goal differential in 19 games this season.
Polar Opposites The Flames are 3-0-0 in their last three. The Senators? 0-0-3.
3-6-1 in their last ten; the team has been spiraling. Every season seems to be the same as the season prior. To quote the Immortal Bard:
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Maybe that is more about mortality, but existing isn’t exactly fun for the more diehard Senators fans. For Flames fans, their Canadian brethren serve as a bitter reminder than conventional rebuilds have perilously slippery slopes. Stray but a little and all will fail. If Calgary can hold on to a winning culture while bringing in younger players, they should.
Not trying to sound dramatic at all here, but next on the chopping block (if this continues) isn’t the coach, or the GM, or the owner. It’ll be a core piece player and it’s going to sting.
— Marc Methot (@MarcMethot3) November 20, 2024
This team looked disengaged tonight against a tired EDM team. Not good.
You do have to wonder if there is a deal to be made between the two teams. The Senators aren’t devoid of talent and Calgary has a surplus of right-side defencemen that are better than Travis Hamonic.
Game time is 5:30 p.m. MST. Catch the broadcast on Amazon Prime.
Stats courtesy of the National Hockey League.
The Calgary Flames have managed to run a 3-0-0 record since Nov. 18 despite winning only 67 of their 175 (38.3%) faceoffs.
— TrevorNeufeld (@Trevor_Neufeld) November 25, 2024
That percentage goes even lower when they’re shorthanded. They’ve won only five of 15 (33.3%) while down a man in those three games. #Flames