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The Calgary Flames, despite all odds, have won four straight games as they beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 last night in front of a home crowd.
For those who have been paying attention, the Flames noted how embarrassed they were to put together the on ice product which ultimately lead to seven straight losses at home. As such, the team pulled themselves together and, well, turned things around.
In spite of the fact that the team is missing some star power, especially with Mike Cammalleri still missing from the lineup, the Flames have been able to outmuscle and outwork their opponents of late. As a direct result of their hard work, the Flames have been rewarded with four straight wins!
As the title makes mention, Bob Hartley recently stated that the Hockey Gods are finally starting to reward the hard work of his team and he couldn’t be more happy or proud of this group. Something that often lacks with several NHL teams is the level of chemistry and work ethic which this team certainly possesses at the moment. While an argument can be made that without high expectations placed on the team to succeed, the team is having more fun and ultimately finding success.
Seriously though, check out this video of the postgame reaction from Hartley. Does the guy not look like he's having a blast and truly cares/respects the players he's talking about? I may be looking into this too much, but they appear to have something special going on here, and it's showing on the ice.
Though I won’t get into this much more, the fact of the matter is that the team is playing very well as a group and those who need to step up and produce this year have been doing so, and remarkably might I add. One such player who I’m sure we haven’t talked about enough of late is Mikael Backlund. How good has he been lately!?
What is nice about Mikael’s game right now is the overall progression of him as a player. He is slowly developing into that complete player which many thought he could become just a few short years ago. With his ability to play a responsible defensive game, skate the puck up ice and create offensive rushes, but also a confident “swagger… about him lately, the guy has been fun to watch, I must say.
Moving away from last night’s game however, there is one discussion that took place over twitter after it was announced that Mike Cammalleri would not participate in the game. As you were all aware, prior to the game the team announced that Mike was in fact ready to go and would play last night. Just before the game, however, we would find out that the team had changed their mind and he would sit. Seems odd, right?
Well, it is of my opinion (as I expressed over Twitter) that there must be more to this than meets the eye. For one, the team’s reasoning behind sitting Cammalleri was to ensure that his “fitness level… was up to snuff. Thing is, Mike has been conditioning on and off the ice and the guy is a fitness nut. He was in fine shape, let’s be real here.
That said, I can only conclude that the team is playing it safe in terms of Mike’s health because…I assume…there is some serious interest in his services. Brian Burke has done this in the past with players who he was trying to trade. There is no sense of icing Mike last night and risk that he gets hurt when you have teams calling about his availability via trade.
For me, if Mike is still a member of the Calgary Flames come Saturday night against the Minnesota Wild, he will play. But I have a feeling that if he does play this weekend, it may be with another team. Just a gut feeling…but then again it could be what I had for lunch, so we will have to wait and see.
Thanks for reading!