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While the battle between the two Alberta rivals may not be as interesting as it once was given that the two teams sit in the bottom of the standings, Saturday night’s game would be far from boring.
Trying to start the game off to a good pace, Flames tough guy Kevin Westgarth would drop the gloves at the midway mark of the first period with Oilers Luke Gazdic. Both respected in terms of their fighting abilities, the two would square off for a good back and forth tilt until Gazdic landed two righties to the chin of Westgarth, ultimately knocking him out cold.
Not that it makes a huge difference in terms of the “fighting or no fighting… argument with respect to the NHL rules and regulations, but Westgarth was a Princeton graduate and one would assume that suffering through the number of fights which he has throughout his career would take a total on his brain. That said, and while the two combatants did their best to try and elevate the level of play from their benches, the fight would accomplish just the opposite as Kevin lays motionless on the ice, fans cheering from their seats.
Here’s the thing. Most fans will cheer and get excitement from a knockout punch like this during a game, filled with beer and greasy food(ok maybe just me), but players on the bench don’t actually respond in the same manner. These guys all, for the most part, respect one another and when someone is flat out on the ice like that, it tends to slow things down a little
“He's doing alright now, that's good to see,… Giordano said. “The bottom line, at the end of the day, you care more about the person when you see something like that. Hopefully, he recovers quickly.…
+1 for those against fighting? Yeah…likely…but that’s a conversation for another day. Westgarth will not travel with the team for tonight’s game against the Wild, and his status is currently set to “out indefinitely… as per the team.
Outside of the fight and injury, there was much excitement for Flames fans, as not only did Calgary tie up the series against the Oilers this year with a win, but it would be none other than Sean “Money… Monahan to score their only two goals.
I’ve got to say, when I read a comment from @chrisboutet on twitter the next morning saying “#Oilers top line gets walked all over by Sean Monahan and I'm supposed to get excited because Luke Gazdic is punching some dummy's face?…... I chuckled. Not because of the Gazdic comment, but because of the likely reaction that Oilers fans would receive considering the fact that it was Monahan in his first NHL year who would put away the game for the Flames against their first overall draft picks; some of which have a few seasons under their belts.
There certainly isn’t a whole lot to be happy about in the Oilers land, and I don’t want to turn this into a bashing, but this team just can’t seem to get it together! That said, the players aren’t by any means oblivious of their issues and they appear to understand that their current play isn’t enough in today’s NHL. How, if ever, this will help them to improve is left to be seen, but the players aren’t scared of being dealt because of it – maybe they should be?
“Not at all,… said Eberle. “There are always rumours and there are always people trying to figure out what’s wrong with us but at the end of the day it’s part of the game and you have to try and drown that out.
“I understand the situation that we’re in, it’s our fault. It comes with the territory of losing.…
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Moving into tonight’s game, the Flames will have their hands full with a strong Minnesota team. Currently exercising a four game winning streak, the Wild have been playing a solid overall team game, both offensively and defensively.
Not only has Minnesota only allowed four goals in four games played, they have managed 10 goals as well. Both sides of the ice are clicking for them and tonight they will do everything they can to extend their lead to five games as they look to move up in the standings.
Expected to be in goal for the Wild tonight is rookie Darcy Keumper who’s play has been comforting for his players, in the absence of Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding.
"It's fun to watch him, he's been getting better and better and playing with more and more confidence," said Parise.
"Shutout last night, big saves in regulation tonight, and then he was huge in the shootout."
That said, while Keumper has only lost three games in his ten starts, one of the three were against the Flames about a month ago. While the sample size is much too small to really comment, some goalies have troubles with certain teams and the Flames could be that team for Darcy if they don’t walk away with a W tonight.
With respect to the Calgary net, expect to see Reto Berra again tonight as he continues to play for Karri Ramo who is out with a knee injury. Berra has been doing quite well in the absence of Ramo, and despite losing the confidence of many fans not long ago, he has posted a record of 2-2-0 with a 1.51 GAA and .941 save percentage in his last four games.
Tonight will certainly be a challenge for the team, and if Monahan and the rest of the group come to play as they did against the Oilers, it could be a very close game. It will also be a big game for the Granlund brothers who will play against each other for the first time in their NHL careers tonight.
Most betting sites have an easy win for the Wild tonight, typically by a two or three goal spread. That said, I say OT win for Minnesota...and a close one as Keumper let’s in a few softies to let the Flames catch up.
That’s all for today folks, thanks for reading!