|
Senators 2, Flames 1: Embarrassed again |
|
|
|
|
|
Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
A few observations from Calgary vs Ottawa:
1. Embarrassing. That’s the first word that came to mind watching last night’s game. The Flames were taking on a bottom feeding team that a) bleeds chances and; b) started their 4th string goaltender. It didn’t matter. While the Flames had a lot of the puck, they did nothing with it. They forced a ton of shots into traffic. They turned attempts in Grade B locations into nothing. There was no traffic around the net to screen Filip Gustavsson, and there were no players around to pounce on rebounds. Everything was one and done. I know the Flames aren’t ‘built’ to play a rough and tumble style but that doesn’t really matter. All it takes to get to the net is some hard work and awareness. I mean, William Nylander – one of my favorites – gets labeled as soft by essentially everyone and he’s one of the leaders in net front goals over the last two seasons. If he can get to the net and finish plays off, there’s no reason the Flames skill guys can’t. There really is no excuse for that kind of effort when the Flames need all the wins they can get. I mean, the Senators have two good defensemen and yet all Calgary could generate is four high-danger chances over the final 40? And one was a breakaway. Brutal. Just brutal.
2. Johnny Gaudreau’s struggles continued. Yes, I know he sniped one on a breakaway late in the game. But guess what: that was his only scoring chance at 5v5 in more than 15 minutes. Call me crazy but I want more than one chance per game from a player of his caliber. He forced a ton of shots into Senators defenders on the power play, and his on-ice numbers (~33.82 xGF%) were complete garbage. You all know me by now. I love Gaudreau and I’m not part of the ‘blame good players whenever something goes wrong’ crowd. But Gaudreau is legitimately playing poorly right now. He is. I realize he doesn’t exactly have great linemates to work with. I realize Darryl Sutter’s system isn’t exactly conducive to a player like Gaudreau excelling. But, man, he simply has to figure out a way to give the team more. They’re going nowhere so long as he can only generate one opportunity a game.
3. More of the same. Another game, another strong showing from the Noah Hanifin - Chris Tanev pairing. Hanifin had some hiccups forcing plays with the puck in the offensive zone but, honestly, I can’t blame him given the way things were going. The Flames showed no ability to break the Senators down, and they couldn’t pounce on any of the opportunities that were presented around the net. But, anyway, back to Hanifin and Tanev. Attempts were 21-10 Calgary with that duo on the ice. While the Flames didn’t generate a ton of chances when they were out there, they gave up absolutely nothing. Ottawa did not record a single high-danger opportunity in 17:30 against the pair. The two lines they saw the most were Evgenii Dadonov’s and Brady Tkachuk’s so I’d say that’s pretty good.
4. Get. To. The. Net. Dillon Dube is a tenacious player, Matthew Tkachuk generally lives in the paint, and Elias Lindholm is quite good at finding soft spots in high-danger areas. That’s where a lot of his goals come from. You’d think that trio, especially, would cause all kinds of problems for a weak Senators defense. Apparently not. While attempts were 20-5 CGY with the top line on the ice, essentially none of them were of worth. In fact, Ottawa won the high-danger battle 2-1 with that trio on the ice. Yes, you read that correctly. Attempts were 20-5 and yet Ottawa mustered up more quality shots. That just can’t happen.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com
Recent posts:
Darryl Sutter is back
Four bold predictions for the 2021 season: North Division edition
Breakout picks from the North Division
2021 NHL award predictions: North Division edition
Three reasons to be optimistic about the Flames in 2021
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»