Ok, so a 5-3-1 record to start the year is a little surprising, and the goaltending has been a large part of it, but should we really be shocked that the Flames are doing well? I, personally, am not shocked. We all saw this team last year come with gritty efforts every night and find ways to stay within one goal in 49 games last year, with a pretty good record in those games too. Rarely were they blown out, and rarely did they blow anyone out (Edmonton notwithstanding). That means that they were a key save, or a key goal, away from a win. The saves are coming so far as the Flames have a team GAA of 2.11. The goals are starting to come, with 5 the other night against Carolina, pushing them to 2.67 GFA, and many of the forwards have yet to break out offensively. Thankfully Monahan got his first 2 of the year after struggling with the flu and a long road trip, but there are plenty of players looking for their first of the year still. Even more impressive, when it comes to 5 on 5, the Flames own the 3rd best GF/GA percentage at 1.80, ahead of Chicago, L.A., Anaheim, Washington, Dallas, Tampa Bay etc. The PK was to blame early on, but it has been solid since a few games ago, and the PP is right among the league average. One can only guess at these things so early in the season, but if the Flames manage to continue making progress on their team game, score enough goals, and get solid goaltending the rest of the year, the playoffs are not out of the realm of possibilities. Yes, that’s right, I said the “p” word. Playoffs. There’s a surprise team every year, why not the Flames? Aaron Ward seemed to think so.
Tonight they face the Capitals, another Eastern Conference opponent who has not fared well when coming out west. Losing to the Oilers is always shameful, so to take their minds off that horrible disappointment they went curling, which I think was the reason the sport was invented in the first place. However, the Caps have a good record to start the year, scoring a lot of goals and giving up few. Those stats are due in large part to a top 3 PP, and a 8th ranked PK, putting their combined percentages at 113.7% (anything over 100% is good special teams). They have also been scoring and defending well 5 on 5 with a top 10 ratio. The scoring has been spread among the whole roster, with only 4 of the players to play a game failing to score a point. Holtby and Peters have been rock solid, both around the 2.00 GAA mark and both are above .915 Sv%. There’s really not a lot of holes on this team like there were in previous years. The Caps were always talented, but now they are coached by Barry Trotz. Could be a dark horse team to end up in the Conference Finals.
Fun fact: another local boy comes home to play his first game at the Saddledome: Jay Beagle, despite 5 years in the league. Oddly, circumstances always got in the way of him suiting up for a game in the dome. He said he might have over 150 friends and family in the stands cheering for him.
As always, lineups are guesses and SureLoss will provide the updates throughout the day. Ramo will get the start. It should be noted that the Capitals are a surprisingly large team, so McGrattan may get a chance to play tonight.
Flames
Hudler-Monahan-Colborne
Gaudreau-Backlund-Raymond
Glencross-Stajan-Byron
Bollig-Bouma-Jooris
Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Wideman
Smid-Engelland
Ramo
Capitals
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Fehr
Burakovsky-Johanssen-Brouwer
Chimera-Kuznetsov-Beagle
O’Brien-Latta-Ward
Carlson-Niskanen
Alzner-Orpik
Green-Schmidt
Holtby
Go Flames Go!