I thought the Flames proved a bit of the naysaying around here wrong:
- Ramo looked like a starter. He was solid, not stellar, but he's certainly not the worst starter in the league. At least 3 of those goals go in on almost any tender.
- Russell really showed what he's got. People were treating him like a throwaway, but once he calmed his game down after a couple early gaffs I thought he played well. He won't be a top line guy, but he looks like a really dependable second pairing guy.
Other than that, Backlund looked like he's taken a step, Monahan and Baertschi were both good with a few flashes of some nice chemistry, and quite frankly, I thought Stajan/GlenX/Stemp was the least exciting line. Not bad, but the hardest to be excited about.
Good for a first game. As we know, game 2 could reveal something entirely different, but I see some positives.
|