Five observations from Calgary vs Columbus:
1. The effort was there As a team, the Flames are playing for nothing. Absolutely nothing. Wins won't erase the damage that's been done or help them get into a playoff spot. Losses won't improve the team's chances of getting a high-end talent come June. A few guys are trying to show they deserve to stay in the NHL but, really, that's the only motivation.
Columbus is trying to a) clinch a playoff spot and; b) earn themselves home ice in what will almost certainly be *another* playoff matchup vs Pittsburgh. They have a ton to play for.
Based on last night's game, you wouldn't necessarily know it. The Flames controlled the majority of the play and had no problem generating scoring chances. As has been the case all season long, actually converting on them was a completely different story.
It's not surprising given the talent they're playing without. Still, these are NHL players. You'd think with 38 shots on goal and 41 chances more than one goal in garbage time is possible. Not for the Flames.
2. Offensive woes continue The Flames have scored four goals over the last six games. Four! I understand they're missing their three best offensive forwards but that's still pretty awful for a team that is legitimate trying to win games.
You wonder how that is even possible and then you check out the stat sheet and see that Curtis Lazar led all Flames forwards in ice with a hair under 18 minutes. Then it all makes sense.
Don't worry, friends. There's only *checks schedule* four games remaining.
3. Chances there, results not for Sam Bennett Sam Bennett piled up another five scoring chances, all of which came during 5v5 play, to give him 49 over the last 17 games. That's the 11th most in the NHL over that span and puts him ahead of notables like David Pastrnak, Jamie Benn, Patrik Laine, and Evgeni Malkin.
Unfortunately, despite all these chances, Bennett is still struggling to find the scoresheet. He has three 5v5 goals over this hot stretch to show for his efforts.
He is still really young but we're 237 games into his career and he just hasn't shown the ability to score goals with any frequency. Bennett is averaging 14.5 per 82 games and it looks increasingly unrealistic to expect much more.
4. The top pairing dominated The Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton duo was broken up a fair bit because the team had only five healthy defensemen for a good portion of the game. When they were together, though, they were dominant.
In 11 minutes of 5v5 play, the Flames out-attempted the Jackets 21-3(!!) and out-chanced them 17-2. They also held the 8-0 advantage in terms of high-danger looks.
Somehow, the Flames only broke even (1-1) with those two on the ice.
5. Jon Gillies doesn't look ready There were a lot of odd-man rushes, missed assignments, etc. that led to good chances and, thus, goals. I'm not blaming him for last night. In saying that, he owns an .893 save percentage through eight NHL games this year and that's not all on the guys in front of him. His AHL numbers are only average, too, so I'm not sure it's surprising he is struggling to get it done up a level.
I'm not writing the guy off but it seems like he still has a ways to go before the team could be comfortable penciling him in as a backup.
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