If you're unaware, the Vancouver Canucks were destroyed by the Washington Capitals last night. Now, this can go both ways for the average Flames fan:
Optimism: glee, shadenfreude, etc. The Canucks aren't really that good and won't be steamrolling over the rest of the NW (and thus the Flames) all year.
Pessimism: shock, horror, etc. that a team that has outscored Calgary 17-4 in the last three games could be fundamentally dismantled by an Eastern Conference foe.
*Segue* Perspectives on the up-coming contest against the Avs can be similarly split.
Optimism:
Colorado has also lost it's first two games of the year, partially due to lackluster goaltending (surprise!). In fact, Peter Budaj is one of the only starting goaltenders with a worse SV% thus far than Kiprusoff (.795 vs. .807).
Not to mention the fact that Calgary has owned Budaj in the past, often chasing him from the net by the 2nd frame. And, hell, if that happens...their back-up is Andrew FAILcroft. Nothing to worry about there.
Also, the Flames were better Saturday night versus the Canucks relative to the season opener. Some of the new faces were particularly noteworthy, including Bourque and Cammalleri. Also, if you look at the Flames corsi numbers through two, you'll see that the puck is going the right direction when the big boys are on the ice. Eventually, that should start making a difference.
Pessimism:
Let's face it, the first two games were not good, to say the least. The defensive coverage is lacking, the PP is oh-fer and the goaltending is as weak as it ever was. Anything even resembling a scoring chance has ended up in the Flames net so far, due to the combination of those two factors. And there hasn't been much indication of that easing up.
In addition, the Avs lack of success so far is probably misleading: they've outshot their opponents 72-39 so far, a per game difference of 36 for, 19.5 against. That's a pretty massive differential and indicates that bad luck/bad goaltending had more to do with their losing than anything else.
Also, there's that Joe Sakic guy - he tends to beat the tar out of the Flames at every opportunity.
Prediction - Im going with "pessimism". Until the defensive faction of the this club shows some marked improvement, my confidence and hopes for success will remain low. 5-3 Avs. Sakic, Stastny, Smyth (2) and Tucker for Colorado. Lombardi and Iginla (2) for Calgary.
10 comments:
When I saw the Vancouver game score I was in the pessimism group, although maybe they were ultra over confident because the Flames were just that bad...
looks like glenx-boyd-moss is back together.
how will keenan do with the matchups?
without conroy, will he go langkow vs stastny and hope lombardi can stay alive vs sakic?
lets hope 20-16-25 can dominate vs arnason and tucker.
i say 3-2(SO) avs.
I think so, Shep. The Langkow/Iginla trio is the only one that can take Stastny. Sakic is currently playing with Jones and Wolski, so he's not as scary.
Im glad to see the Moss line reunited in theory, but I wont be too excited until I actually see them skate onto the ice together. As we've discovered, the morning skate isn't totally predictive of the night's combos.
I sifted through some of the behind the net numbers as well. I was surprised at the success of Prust-Primeau-Roy. Sure they're playing crap competition, for hardly any time at all, but they're corsi number says they're making the most of it, which is more than I can say for some other players.
Like Lombardi. Weak competition, strong teammates, a low corsi and a negative goal differential. I hope it's just the flu. Incidentally, the # of goals scored (both for and against) while he is on the ice is interesting compared to his TOI.
Glencross is also interesting. He's performing pretty well against strong competition with weak teammates. But his corsi is very low. This is either due to some unmeasurable quality or pure luck.
Of course, this is all based on two games against one team. But it gives me something to do while procrastinating.
I predict Keenan will perform a personal best this evening and generate 17 brand new line combinations that have never been seen ever. Watch for 'Mackel-eh-knee' to center Iggy and Dion late in the third. Go Mikey!
Flames will win, but it will be ugly.
Yeah, not much can be taken from the Prust et al. Numbers. He's only played 5 or so minutes, for instance.
Ten games in these things will start to settle down I think.
There's Iggy versus Stastny to start.
Good call Shep.
Well that's a nice start.
Boyd on the PP? what a novel concept.
12 cant be fighting every game or so.. 5 mins in the box + injury risk. keenan should make a "fight once every 5 games"-deal with him or something.
11 mins toi for #5? why?
oh and 24's goal was a beauty. hope he can get some confidence and lose the stonehands
think i'll have a look at vics toi thing.
Gio made a bad pinch on a PK that led to a goal (one of three errors on the play). Keenan demoted him to the 3rd pairing with Aucoin after that.
And Cammalleri got the lion's share of first unit PP time with Phaneuf.
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