Wednesday night was a rough game for the Flames. The game started out 13-1 in shots Jets in the first ten minutes. The Jets were playing a 1-2-2 system for almost the entire game. By the middle of the second, the Jets were outshooting the Flames 24-4. The Flames just couldn’t get through the trap. Every time they gained possession the Jets had four players in front of them set up to stop anything substantial in the neutral zone and the one forechecker closed the distance on them quickly while staying on the defensive side of the puck.
While there are ways to beat such a stifling system, things can get ugly if the defensemen aren’t engaged in the play and stepping into the rush. Not really Sutter’s MO when it comes to team composition. If you’re rolling a weaker passer/skater on 2/3 defensive pairings, then you’re team might get locked up by the trap pretty regularly. That said, Sutter is an adaptable guy and will have taken a lot of notes from tonight’s preseason loss. Now is the time to learn those lessons.
After a beat down in the first half of the game, a spark came from an unfortunate hit made by Blake Coleman. He caught Jansen Harkens on his knees and hit him into the boards in a position he couldn’t protect himself. Coleman will have a phone meeting today with the Department of Player Safety about it.
Well suffice to say the Jets were angry about that.
The Jets tried to send a message to Blake Coleman following his boarding penalty by means of fringe NHLer Domenic Toninato getting in his face while the Flames took the puck up the other way. At the same time Nathan Beaulieu was aggressively trying to help Toninato and Gudbranson stepped in to deal with him. What resulted was the Jets missing both of their wingers and the ice opening up in the Jets end. Tkachuk made the pass to Gawdin who put it five hole. Coleman got an assist on the play. Him and Toninato both took 10 minute misconducts. That is one way to beat the trap.
It didn’t end there. Beaulieu took an unsportsmanlike minor after Gawdin’s goal. The Flames set up and passed it laterally as the Jets collapsed back to their net. After the unit almost scoring a few times, Dube whipped the puck on goal and the puck careened off of Mangiapane’s skate and into the net. Suddenly the game was 2-2 and the Flames had momentum.
Unfortunately, Nikita Zadorov was a bit overzealous in the mid-third and received a penalty for interfering with Nik Ehlers. On the ensuing power play, Ehlers got one past Vladar with a one-timer from the high slot.
The game ended on a sour note when Tkachuk made the play of the preseason by corralling the puck mid-air, settling it, then getting it low for Backlund to finish the play. The goal was eventually called off as it was deemed Tkachuk’s stick was too high when he batted it out of the air. The replay pointed out the point of contact was well above his shoulders, so the game stayed 3-2 Jets.
Vladar is the main reason the score looked competitive. The flames were outshot 40-18 and Vladar made so many quality saves. Sutter made a point of letting the media know the 24 year old Czech has officially earned the backup position out of camp.
A few notes:
Sutter pointed out the incomplete roster as to the lack of offence Darryl explained a few things post-game including the lineup tonight not being a full picture of how the team was built. He’s obviously referring to Gaudreau and Monahan being out of the lineup. Fair point, but injuries are going to happen in the regular season too. The team needs to tighten up their defence without those two.
Flames once again sunk on the penalty kill Much like against the Oilers, the Flames gave up a tied score by taking a bad penalty. This time it was Zadorov for interference.
The Bruisers The hulking defenseman took himself out of the play to make a hit and the Jets took the puck 2-on-1 against Kylington. Second game in a row he’s needlessly taken himself out of the play for a goal against. Between him and Zadorov there needs to be some restraint — especially if it starts costing the team points.
The Flames get a rematch against the Jets on Friday at 7pm.
Thanks for reading,
Trevor Neufeld