Here's my (possibly drunken) thoughts for the night:
Brodie: I have to admit I never thought of him as more than a 3/4 PP specialist, but he really impressed me tonight. I always thought his upside was a Wideman with maybe a bit more defensive acumen. I was fully expecting a Butler type performance, but Brodie looked very composed, made several good defensive and offensive plays out there. I may need to upgrade my expectations with him.
Backlund: The only Flame to score a goal, and it was a pretty frickin nifty goal. Those are the kind of goals that give me hope with Backs. He's a fairly responsible player, drives play into the offensive zone and always seems to pick up his man in the defensive zone. There's a lot of life still in this draft pick, and I hope that at some point in the near future he and Baertschi can re-ignite their chemistry.
Giordano: "Jordano" looked a lot more comfortable on the second pairing. I know this is straying away from being positive, but we might have to accept that Gio isn't anything more than a pretty good 2nd pairing d-man. I don't know if it's the extra minutes, the extra pressure of being on the top pairing, or his injury last season, but he just doesn't have it this year. Honestly, a lot of people harp on his lack of offensive production as a sign of his decline, but to me it's that he's not taking the body, blocking shots, and making quick, smart decisions with the puck like he used to. If Gio (yeah, I said it), could get back to that I would be more than happy. The offensive production is more of a bonus to me.
The negative (other) part:
Slava Voynov: That kid is going to be a hell of a defenseman. He is what I would hope any of our prospects turn out to be. You forget the kid is only 23. He looks so composed out there in any zone. That's what good hockey IQ is. When you can read the plays like he does you're always in the right position, whether on offense or defense. I expect him to be in the Norris conversation in the near future.
Calgary (in general): Just too small, too weak on the puck. LA didn't even have to take the body more than a few times. Just getting sticks in the lane ( on very predictable passing patterns) was enough. I think the score was very flattering to the Flames. Once the Kings got two goals they locked down on us. Even on the powerplay LA embarrassed us. I'm still not sure how we have such a high ranking powerplay. I haven't felt that it's "threatening" for a while now.
Anyways, that's my (drunken) thoughts for the night. Hopefully we're selling at the deadline, because this team just doesn't have it.
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