Love Rittich. This year it feels like he gets involved early with big saves (and the first period had a few great ones) and he gets in that zone like you've seen great goalies do. Last year it felt like Rittich played like a #1 but Smith believed he was the #1; this year there is no doubt. And by the way, Cam Talbot is not a bad #2.
Anybody else notice the excitement that Tkachuk had with Hanifin's goal? That guy just has captain written all over him - you get the feeling that Gio is the guy off the ice that everyone respects because of his work ethic and experience and then on the ice you've got Gio and Tkachuk who leads and fires everyone up.
Radulov is exactly what this team needs. Imagine if we had THAT $6M contract as opposed to #17.
Speaking of which, I don't want to re-hash the trade here because this is a positive night, but it's a tough one to put lipstick on, even with Flames-colored glasses. Neal didn't work here, but Lucic CAN'T work here. There's nothing good there to work with. That trade will never look good.
Finally, can we give it a rest on the officiating? Every team believes that they are victimized by the officials - EVERY team. I thought there were quite a few calls tonight that could/should have gone against us and didn't. Look at our three leaders in PIM this year - Lucic/Bennett/Brodie. Is anyone going to argue that these guys are intelligent, disciplined players? This is a very young team with several guys that consistently make dumb mistakes. The crying about officiating is pathetic.
I love/hate the games against Dallas because I feel like from a talent perspective they are both very similar teams. Heavy on high-end forwards, lacking overall forward depth, good young D-men. Very nice win to get tonight.
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