Follow Colin on Twitter! Follow @ColinDJD The Calgary Flames will take to the ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight in what I feel will be a very good game.
The Lightning lost last night to the Edmonton Oilers which, should I add, was their first victory of the season so far. I believe if I’m not mistaken that this is their worst start to the season in quite some time!
Anyways, the Oilers looked a little better than previous games displayed and the Bolts, well they didn’t look great in my opinion.
"We have to be better," Bishop said. "We can't come out and play like this on the road and expect to win. We had too many breakdowns all over the ice. We showed some fight in the third, but it still wasn't even close enough to win in this league."
That said, Edmonton did a good job a keeping Stamkos away from the puck and the play which should be Calgary’s main goal as well. When Stamkos gets on the board, chances are that the Tampa is likely going to walk away with a win. By keeping a man on him at all times in their own end, Calgary will give themselves a better chance at walking away with a win.
What should be considered over the next few games is the play of TJ Brodie in relation to his new contract. It is not uncommon for a player to suffer in terms of their production shortly after signing a new contract either because they are trying a little too hard to prove their worth, or they aren’t trying as hard as they were to initiate the contract discussion in the first place.
Although, at least upper management doesn’t seem to be worried, in fact, he continues to praise the young defenseman.
"He's playing against the other team's top players," Brad Treliving said. "These are hard minutes, these are minutes against top players, special team minutes and it's not only what he's doing defending but, in a lot of cases - at least early on in the season - he's been driving our offense. These types of players are so critical to have success in today's game."
Karri Ramo is expected to get the start tonight and he’s put up some strong performances so far this year with a 2.30 GAA and .920 SV%. I expect this game to be a lower scoring event but a strong performance from the Bolts who just lost to one of the bottom tiered teams in the league at the moment.
Thanks for reading!