Follow Colin on Twitter! Follow @ColinDJD Alright sports fans, today is a good day because the Calgary Flames are hitting the ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and because it’s also my 25th birthday for the 3rd time! Bad joke, I know.
Anyways, tonight should be an exciting game between these two clubs as both sit near the top of the league in the standings and have each played some solid hockey of late with winning streaks of three games!
The Bolts have a lot of offense that will test Calgary’s defense and goaltending which has actually been their strong suit. Perhaps it will be an interesting mix of offense versus defense tonight. That said, Tampa’s defense isn’t exactly weak by any means and they have received some strong goaltending from Ben Bishop as well. So the Flames will need to bring some offense of their own tonight.
Rookie Nikita Kucherov has five goals and four assists over his last five games and the Flames will need to keep a close eye on him. Captain Stamkos has been quite impressed with the rookie’s performance and any compliment coming from him is something.
"Kuch has come a long way in understanding how to play both sides of the rink," Stamkos said. "He's been a big part of our success this year, and we're going to continue to need him."
In terms of Calgary rookies, the Flames will need another strong performance from Sean Monahan who currently sits with four goals and four assists for the year. He has been playing very well and is truly showing that he’s not only capable of playing at the NHL level, but also showing his maturity, too.
"We're on the road here and you've got to find a way to win," Monahan said. "Right now, we are trying to get as many wins as we can to start the season. I think we're rolling right now, we've got good leadership to get us there."
Out of everything that has been credited towards the Flames for their current success is the coaching staff and the work ethic of their players. Calgary has been bar none impressive to watch given where pundits expect them to end up this year. Currently tied for 3rd place, league wide with 18 points, the Flames are off to a start that not one single person could have predicted.
The majority of the team’s stats are respectable as well, as they currently sit 12th in PP%, 1st in blocked shots, and middle of the league in PIM/game which to me means that they are quite controlled and responsible in terms of their play.
In terms of areas of improvements, well there are plenty which may result in a few losses if not improved upon and those are their PK% (26th), hits (14th), GvA (6th), and FO% (29th). These can all be significant stats which influence the way a game can end, and Calgary will need to improve upon them if they plan on staying out of the basement.
And while improving on stats will help, their effort must also continue to be top notch which many feel that their tanks may run empty if they keep playing with this “playoff intensity…. Their depth will certainly be tested in that regard this year, and coach Bob Hartley will require 110% effort from his group every night.
"We never quit," Hartley said. "It was far from the perfect game. It was one of the weirdest games that I've seen, looking at a few of their goals and looking at our winning goal. But that's the beauty of our sport. It can go, and our guys never quit."
Thanks for reading!