Quote:
Originally Posted by combustiblefuel
Engelland counts for 50% of our toughness. Thats not a gab at the rest of the team. Engelland just seems to be a beast since comming to Calgary. We have seen him take on 2 players at once more then a few times even out side on the recent playoff series. The top 4 were so good in the season it was easy to miss how solid Engelland was. It was only after Gio went down and Engelland took his place.
|
In the 2 months leading up to Gio's injury, he averaged around 10 minutes or less a game. At the time of Gio's injury, roughly calculated at a -15 after 55 or so games.
Gio gets hurt and then he plays less than 15 minutes only once for the rest of the season, and averages close to 18 minutes...including 25 in the clinching game vs LA.
Those 21 regular season games since Gio goes down, increasing his average ice time well over 50% over the 2 months prior? Overall, -1 (including a -2 in the last useless game vs Winnipeg). Don't forget his two goal outburst which secured at least the critical loser point vs Dallas.
In the playoffs, he averaged 20 minutes per game.
In my opinion, between the Stajan Richardson fight, and the fact that Engelland took on two Canucks and beat them both down, at very least fired up the Flames, and that Game 2 loss in Vancouver was not a loss at all, rather a rallying point to take 3 of the next 4...and still leads the league in playoff penalty minutes currently, with 50.