[GDT] Flames vs. Wild, 7 pm, SNW

[Cali Panthers Fan]

The photos, like playing against the Wild, are pretty ugly.


Flames: 26-19-3, 55 points, 4th in the Pacific, 8th in the West, 16th in NHL.

Wild: 21-20-6, 48 points, 7th in the Central, 12th in the West, 21st in NHL.


A solid win at home against a bottom feeding team has started this current 6 game homestand off on the right foot. I know it’s only Buffalo, but as we saw earlier this year anything can happen, and there’s a reason they play the games. A strong first 40 minutes for the Flames was marred by the fact the two teams were deadlocked at 1 heading into the third, despite the Flames getting the majority of the chances. A key save by Hiller near the end of the second period kept the Sabres from eeking out their first win in 12 games. A very strong 3rd period put this one away easily, as Jooris, Colborne, and Gaudreau found the back of the net past a dejected Enroth, who very nearly gave his team a chance to steal a win with his strong play.

The Flames will get another opponent tonight who has floundered throughout this year in the Minnesota Wild. Their first meeting of the year comes after the all-star break and several games after the half-way point, something you don’t see often within a conference. The Flames went 1-2-0 last year against the Wild. Their one win a hard fought overtime win off the stick of Backlund after Ramo was injured and Berra had to come in and struggled mightily in the 3rd letting the Wild come back from a 3-1 deficit. Their first loss was an awful, yet classic, Berra 3rd period meltdown after the Flames were down just 2-1 heading into the final frame, ending up 5-1. The third game was a tightly contested 1 goal game that was marred by yet another Berra sub .900 save percentage.

Well the Wild don’t have Berra to pick on anymore, and the goaltending situations have changed for both teams. Kuemper hasn’t been truly terrible, but his numbers are down a little from last year. Sporting a .904 Sv% and 2.62 GAA, it’s just not quite as good as his .915 and 2.43 from the year before where he stole the starting job. Backstrom has been woeful, with a .887 Sv% and 3.04 GAA, and being 36 years old he might be a potential candidate to buy out his final year at $4 million and let him go off into the sunset. Josh Harding has had well documented health problems, both unfortunate and self-inflicted, and being a pending UFA he has probably played his last game for the Wild after the acquisition of Dubnyk. Dubnyk himself has been solid so far in 5 games, posting a .911 Sv% and 2.04 GAA, but there have been some bad moments as well keeping him from outright taking a starting job that was pretty much handed to him when he arrived.

And it’s really the goaltending that’s held this team back for the most part. Sure we can talk about the slightly disappointing seasons of Vanek (9 goals, 29 points in 47 games, -12 tied for worst on the team), Suter (just 1 goal on the season and a -8), Granlund (4 goals, 15 points in 33 games while battling injuries), and Koivu (7 goals, 26 points in 47 games), but there have been some nice surprises too in Jason Zucker (16 goals), and Niederreiter (15 goals) to pick up the offensive slack. In fact, the team’s overall offensive production sits at 2.72 GF/G ranked 16th, just 4 spots behind Calgary. They are also 4th in the league with 32.0 SF/G, so they get plenty of chances. The powerplay has been poor at just 15.5%, but they still score enough to win. So it’s the defense right? Not so fast. They allow the fewest shots against per game at just 26.8 (surprisingly, the Flames are also very good in this regard with 27.9 SA/G). Their penalty kill is excellent, operating at 83.4% ranked in the top 10, yet their goals against sits 23rd at 2.89 GA/G. Look at the save percentages above, and you really only have one position to blame.

That’s how important goaltending is in the NHL, and when you don’t have a solid #1 goalie, you’re going to be at the bottom of the standings. Look at the two biggest turn around teams this year: The Flames and Panthers. What’s the biggest reason for the improvement this year? Goaltending, “plain simple”, to coin a phrase from our beloved coach. Luongo has been excellent in Florida and probably the single reason they’re competing for a playoff spot, and Hiller (despite his warts) has solidified the netminding enough to allow the Flames to find ways to win, something that McDonald, Berra, and at times Ramo struggled to do for the Flames all of last year. As soon as Minnesota finds their goalie, they’ll be back at the top of the standings. Let’s just hope it isn’t tonight.

Roster Notes: Glencross is skating with the main group, but is unlikely to play tonight. It’s still doubtful that we see any of Baertschi, Wolf, or Wotherspoon play as all of the usual suspects for a benching had a very strong game against Buffalo. For the Wild, Kuemper was assigned to Iowa on a conditioning stint, as he has played just once since January 6th due to a lower body injury. Ballard is out for possibly the rest of the year with facial fractures and a concussion. Matt Cooke is on leave for a death in the family and will not play tonight. Granlund made his return to the lineup last game in Edmonton after surgery on his wrist, and produced 3 shots in just over 17 minutes of ice time.


Flames
Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler
Bouma-Backlund-Jones
Raymond-Jooris-Colborne
Bollig-Stajan-Byron

Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Wideman
Diaz-Engelland

Hiller


Wild
Parise-Granlund-Vanek
Zucker-Koivu-Pominville
Carter-Coyle-Niederreiter
Haula-Brodziak-Fontaine

Suter-Brodin
Spurgeon-Scandella
Prosser-Folin

Dubnyk




Go Flames Go!!!

[Murph]

You're up early this morning...

Thanks, solid write-up as usual.

[neo45]

Great write up as usual.

Wanted to see the call ups but I agree that Raymond and Diaz should play after strong games the other night.

[Timbo]

Excellent work there Cali Flames Fan.
GFG
I'll be at the dome tonight and looking for a solid game from the Flames.

[crapshoot]

Originally Posted by neo45

Great write up as usual.

Wanted to see the call ups but I agree that Raymond and Diaz should play after strong games the other night.

Bollig and Engelland, however, should not. But they probably will. As usual.

[Finger Cookin]

Let's spend a good part of the day being thankful that the Wild are no longer in our division, so we are not subjected to watching them as often as we used to.

[Poe969]

Flames win 6-1 (Ortio would get a shutout). Johnny looks great again and scores a couple more.

Vanek may have the worst contract in the league lol.

[sureLoss]

It's Alumni Night. Flames will be honoring Gary Roberts tonight.

[Poe969]

these pre game ceremonies are such a pain in the neck....

[DaQwiz]

Since it's alumni night, will they be wearing retro jerseys? oh plspls

[nmhen]

Good write up.

Couple things.

1) Agree the goaltending has been the Wild's biggest issue. While Dubnyk is an improvement, that's not a glowing endorsement of Devan. That's evidence of just how low the bar was when he was acquired.

2) Marco Scandella has also had a very good season so far. He played pretty well in the playoffs last season, and took that momentum and ran with it this season. Yes, he has the suspension on his record now, but he also leads the team in GWG, I believe.

3) Cooke is not 100% out tonight. In fact, he's expected to play.

4) Outside the crease, the Wild's kids have struggled this year, with the aforementioned exceptions of Zucker and Scandella. Nino just scored his first goal in 17 games. Coyle looks like he's going to turn out to be a gentle giant instead of the power forward we had envisioned him becoming. Granlund has balls, but he also has a couple concussions and a broken wrist to show for those balls - and he's just not a 1st line center. Brodin is probably the best kid we have right now, all things considered. He plays a solid, quiet, efficient game. You likely won't notice him on TV.

5) Granted this Wild team is bad, and their play less-than-inspiring, but if you really think this team is the same as the Lemaire teams you had to suffer through when we were in the same division, you're not paying attention. I'm certainly not saying the Wild is the perfect team, I'd think I have earned a reputation as a fair fan around here by now. And Mike Yeo certainly has his shortcomings as a coach and a motivator of men. But his system is far from Lemaire's.

As for the game, the Wild SHOULD be in desperation mode right now. The problem is they've said all the right things all season, but haven't been able to translate that into their play. I would prefer they suck hard enough to finish in the money picks this year. But they're probably just good enough not to, so we'll finish outside the playoffs, and with another pick in the 9-11 range. Awesome.

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by DaQwiz

Since it's alumni night, will they be wearing retro jerseys? oh plspls

Doesn't look like it. Apparently they will wear them once this year, against Philadelphia.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by nmhen

Good write up.

Couple things.

1) Agree the goaltending has been the Wild's biggest issue. While Dubnyk is an improvement, that's not a glowing endorsement of Devan. That's evidence of just how low the bar was when he was acquired.

2) Marco Scandella has also had a very good season so far. He played pretty well in the playoffs last season, and took that momentum and ran with it this season. Yes, he has the suspension on his record now, but he also leads the team in GWG, I believe.

3) Cooke is not 100% out tonight. In fact, he's expected to play.

4) Outside the crease, the Wild's kids have struggled this year, with the aforementioned exceptions of Zucker and Scandella. Nino just scored his first goal in 17 games. Coyle looks like he's going to turn out to be a gentle giant instead of the power forward we had envisioned him becoming. Granlund has balls, but he also has a couple concussions and a broken wrist to show for those balls - and he's just not a 1st line center. Brodin is probably the best kid we have right now, all things considered. He plays a solid, quiet, efficient game. You likely won't notice him on TV.

5) Granted this Wild team is bad, and their play less-than-inspiring, but if you really think this team is the same as the Lemaire teams you had to suffer through when we were in the same division, you're not paying attention. I'm certainly not saying the Wild is the perfect team, I'd think I have earned a reputation as a fair fan around here by now. And Mike Yeo certainly has his shortcomings as a coach and a motivator of men. But his system is far from Lemaire's.

As for the game, the Wild SHOULD be in desperation mode right now. The problem is they've said all the right things all season, but haven't been able to translate that into their play. I would prefer they suck hard enough to finish in the money picks this year. But they're probably just good enough not to, so we'll finish outside the playoffs, and with another pick in the 9-11 range. Awesome.

Your team single handedly killed my hockey pool this year! I took Granlund early, and Koivu late.

[Otto-matic]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Doesn't look like it. Apparently they will wear them once this year, against Philadelphia.

Awesome!

Retro Johnny Hockey jersey!

[nmhen]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Your team single handedly killed my hockey pool this year! I took Granlund early, and Koivu late.

Ouch. That hurts. I could have warned you about Koivu, but I might have taken Granlund, too.

[nmhen]

and, by "Ouch. That hurts." I meant that I empathized with your plight. I wasn't trying to be sarcastic.

[GranteedEV]

Yikes, after reading that writeup, I just checked and the Wild are 7th in CF%, 5th in FF%. This could be a complete trap game, and the hardest to win of this home stand if Dubnyk gives them decent play. Definitely can't play down to Minnesota's record, especially with how L.A. made some ground back on us last night.

[mrkajz44]

Got an invite this morning to go to the game! Good thing I keep my jersey at work just in case this situations arise. Hope for an exciting game, though I'm not sure that will be the case.

Just as long as the Flames win!

[Bandwagon In Flames]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Got an invite this morning to go to the game! Good thing I keep my jersey at work just in case this situations arise. Hope for an exciting game, though I'm not sure that will be the case.

Just as long as the Flames win!

Don't worry, Minnesota doesn't play the same boring style of game they used to.

Should be a relatively exciting game.. I hope..

[foshizzle11]

I was completely wrong the last game and said it would be close, I was right for about 40 minutes but then the 3rd came around and that changed. So, I am going with a 5-2 win tonight. It will be close up until the 3rd, then we come out and blast them in the 3rd period with a couple of goals.

Yet again, another big 2 points, this will likely put a nail in the coffin for minny and their hopes for the playoffs. They are pretty far behind now but a 9 point spread is much more difficult to over come then a 5 point spread. Come on Flames!