So I received a seemingly angry tweet earlier today asking, essentially, when the hell I was going to write about last night’s game between the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings.
Here’s the truth – I went back and forth and what I wanted to comment about and eventually I just gave up on the idea. I wrote a few things down, had my ideas for the blog broken down and said – to hell with it.
The reason is that I couldn’t really make up my mind on what I felt about the game. I can say one thing, though, I did like those retro jerseys that the Kings were sporting! Right? Yeah whatever, I thought they were cool.
Anyways – last night’s game was a tough one for Flames fans. The team was in that game from start to, well almost finish. At the end of the night they were on the wrong side of unlucky bounces and a few chances that were awarded to the Kings I felt were not exactly “earned….
Calgary played an overall strong game and kept the pressure on the Cup champs throughout the entire game. While they coughed up a lead and ultimately lost the game, it was one I would chalk up to the hockey gods being unfair.
Now I noticed some folks over twitter getting a little stir crazy with respect to the shot totals. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t personally notice 45 shots to 18 during the game. It just didn’t seem like a lot of Kings chances were due to a dominance in play and I didn’t get the feeling that they were outmatched which a shot differential of that magnitude would typically offer.
Where the Flames struggled last night, to me, seemed with aggressiveness. With teams like the Kings they will pounce on all and any chance you give them. Calgary was a little too risky on the pinch and trying to get some offense of their own going which led to a few too many odd man rushes. And props to Hiller for that performance, because frankly the team owes him for the game not being 8-2.
I’ve been offering a lot of positive thoughts toward this group of late, but Sean Monahan appears to be struggling a little bit of late, with 2pts in his last 5 games played and a -1 overall rating. Moreover his faceoff percentages seem to be struggling a little, having lost more than he’s won during said stretch.
Monahan is still very much young and still inexperienced and shouldn’t really be counted on for his production, per se, but this team has gotten to where they are now due to guys like Gaudreau and Monahan’s strong performances.
Moving forward, Calgary has a very important game in hand tomorrow night as they take on the Vancouver Canucks, and an opportunity to move themselves two points ahead of another divisional rival, and back into a secured playoff spot.
Expect a high paced game tomorrow night as both teams try and avoid giving an advantage to their competition!
One last random thought to leave you with – I asked on twitter who fans would trade if they had the choice. Top 3 popular choices were: Glencross, Stajan, Engelland.
I see the point on the other two, point I’m not sure I agree with the opinions on Stajan.
What about you?
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