Some thoughts on the Calgary Flames' 5-4 loss to the San Jose Sharks:
1) Losing consecutive games to inner-division opponents within a couple points of the Flames is far from ideal but there were certainly some positives; particularly in last night's game against the Sharks.
The Flames carried play for much of the night and were the better team by almost all measurements. The Flames out attempted the Sharks 63-33 (49-31 at even-strength) out chanced them 31-19 (22-18 at evens) and out shot them 35-18.
The difference, obviously, was just one goal and a very unlucky one at that.
Ward goal pic.twitter.com/XMFEsG13By
— Stephanie (@myregularface) January 12, 2016If the Flames can play like that on a remotely consistent basis they should be able to grab ahold of a wild card spot.
2) I think it's safe to say Micheal Ferland's audition alongside Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau on the top line was a success. He had a couple scoring chances, a goal, an assist and he dominated physically with seven hits. That trio was the best line on the ice all night and Ferland was a big reason why.
3) Sam Bennett was an absolute force against the Sharks playing what might have been his best game of the year. He was 4th in the game with a plus-10 shot attempt differential at even-strength - only Calgary's big line was ahead of him - and he had four scoring chances as well as three shots to go along with his 2nd period snipe. As a result of his strong play Bob Hartley had him on the ice late when Calgary was pressing for the tying goal.
I'm sure this is just a sign of things to come as Bennett has been playing well for a while despite his point totals suggesting otherwise.
4) Mikael Backlund was an absolute force against the Sharks. Almost every time he touched the ice he was able to create offense for the Flames. He finished with a game-high six shots, a game-high six scoring chances (four of which were high-danger) and a pair of assists to go with it.
If the Flames can get more consistent production from him and Bennett, among others, it'll go a long way towards another playoff berth.
5) One thing working against the Flames? For every magical shift from T.J. Brodie and Mark Giordano there's one like this from Dennis Wideman and Deryk Engelland.
Not the best DZ play from Wideman and Engelland. https://t.co/ZUZTWAv3w5
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) January 12, 2016Wideman bobbled the puck, Engelland launched it out to nobody, it came back in and then Wideman turned it over again. Nothing came of the turnovers but sloppy plays like that usually don't end well. Those two really need to clean up their act in the defensive zone.
6) A couple of the goals weren't Karri Ramo's fault but he certainly struggled against the Sharks. I mean, he stopped 13-18 and posted a .722SV% in the process. That's never good enough.
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