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The Battle of Alberta will take place tonight as the Calgary Flames looking to take two points from a struggling Edmonton Oilers group, despite struggling themselves.
The Battle of Alberta, or the BOA, has been a strong and serious competition between the two rival teams for years and has not lost any traction. Oh who am I kidding; tonight’s game is a battle to supersede as the best of the worst. Given that both the Flames and Oilers have more losses than wins of late, neither team has been able to find much chemistry between lines – each for different reasons.
“We’re playing a team basically in the same situation as us,… said Flames coach Bob Hartley. “I think it’s going to help the winner and it’s going to get the loser even deeper. That’s the truth of this situation. We can say whatever we want, but we’re going to see at 8 o’clock which team is on the ball.“I have confidence in our guys. Now we have to prove it tonight. The table is set, now let’s sit down and have a good dinner.…
With a younger squad filled with highly skilled offensive players, the Oilers entered the 2013-14 NHL season with a new head-coach and direction for the team. The notion was that there would be no more excuses, that bold moves would be made, that the team would climb out of the metaphorical basement, and as a result success would follow. Anything short of this, for Edmonton, was thought to be seen as a failure.
That said, it is only mid-November and most analysts have already cast the Oilers as a non-playoff team essentially throwing away the remainder of their season. While I’m sure the fans and coaches alike are not willing to accept this, they have a lot of improving to do if they are going to even think of the possibility of the postseason. With a potential upgrade in Ilya Bryzgalov, the Oilers feel as though they have improved upon their dreadful goaltending.
And while the goaltending has been weak, I maintain that without a few upgrades on their overall defensive play, Ryan Miller couldn’t help them out all that much. The team and its player appear to be far too heavily focused on their offensive numbers and as a result create turnovers and odd man rushes which lead to quality scoring changes for their opposing teams.
I would like to be clear that I am not writing this as an attempt to rile up Edmonton fans, in fact I too have held that the Oilers would/should be a dominant team over the past two/three seasons given the players they were acquiring, however they continue to find difficulty in moving up the standings. That said, fans shouldn’t be overly upset as I am starting to get the feeling that management has had enough and realize that a big move or two needs to happen to shake things up. If they do not, however, I fail to see how the team will progress toward becoming a championship team.
Moving away from the Oilers, the Flames themselves have been experiencing difficulties of their own this season – none that shouldn’t have been expected anyways, right? My only problem of late with the Flames has been that their commitment level appears to be diminishing to an extent. I took some flak for mentioning this the other day, but it is very much accurate. While the players are still showing up, blocking shots and skating out there, the level of play and commitment to Hartley’s systems are not as prodigious as they once were.
With a starless team such as the Flames, the only way they will find success in terms of steady development of their players will be through hard work night in, night out. There should be no nights off or excuses with this team from start to finish, regardless of where they place in the standings and who they have in their lineup. Rebuilding teams who accept defeat and create excuses for themselves tend to welcome a losing environment which the core of said team develops within.
This is an NHL team playing in the NHL and at no point in time should the Flames excuse their lack of play or commitment to the fact that they are rebuilding. A strong message to all players, as expressed by Feaster and Co. that they expect this team to compete while rebuilding, is one that should be embraced by all. As mentioned by the organization at the beginning of the year, if any player does not want to be a part of this model they will have no problem finding someone else who will.
There are no expected changes to the lineup tonight. Newly acquired Smid will play in his first game with the Flames against his former team. Brought in for his ability to clear the net, add some size to their backend, and help the team become a little grittier, Smid should be pretty excited for the opportunity to push around a few former teammates tonight.
“I’m really excited for this game,… said Smid. “It’s always fun to get up for the Battle of Alberta but for me it’s going to be a little different because I’m part of the Flames now. I’m just going to play my game, keep it simple and try to be solid.…
Here are the expected lines for tonight, with Reto Berra getting his third straight start. What I like about tonight’s lines is the balance of youth and veterans as just about every rookie is setup between one or two veteran forwards to help develop their games.
TJ Galiardi - Mikael Backlund - David Jones Mike Cammalleri - Sean Monahan - Jiri Hudler Sven Baertschi - Matt Stajan - Lee Stempniak Lance Bouma - Joe Colborne - Brian McGrattan
Chris Butler - TJ Brodie Kris Russell - Dennis Wideman Ladislav Smid - Derek Smith
Reto Berra
Thanks for reading and enjoy the game!