[News Roundup] Thursday, November 23rd, 2017

[Cheese]

Flames Thoughts: Bobrovsky bests Smith in epic goalie showdown

Mike Smith stole a point for the Flames on Wednesday night, plain and simple. Following a fairly even first period, the Blue Jackets badly outshot and outplayed the Flames in the second and third periods. Smith is a battler. He fights to see and stop pucks.
In addition to the 40 saves that he made, Smith did an outstanding job playing the puck and playing the role of a third defenceman to help the Flames transition out of the defensive zone, through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. As my broadcast partner Peter Loubardias said following the game, “Smith was so good he could have been the first, second and third stars tonight.”
What We Learned: CBJ 1, CGY 0 (OT)

"We played good tonight," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "The way we played tonight, we deserved to win. Had some chances. [Smith] was good, so we played a really good hockey game tonight."
The victory in overtime extended the Blue Jackets' success beyond regulation this season. They're 7-0-1 in games that finish in overtime or shootouts, which is a big reason they hold the top spot in the Metropolitan Division.
"I think we're just confident [in overtime] first of all in our conditioning, so we never feel tire," Foligno said. "Our overtime right now, we're confident because we work hard on it, and we've gotten some bounces to win games."
They got a great one in this OT, when Calgary defenseman TJ Brodie lost the puck behind the Flames' net and watched Foligno send it to Anderson for the game-winner. It was Anderson's team-high eighth goal of the season, and Foligno's assist ended a 12-game pointless stretch for him, which was tied for the longest of his career.

Acknowledging and analyzing the NHL’s top 5 defensive pairings

The Calgary Flames’ top pairing of Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton has the strongest underlying numbers in the league, but even though its goals-for percentage is strong, it’s less than it has earned so far. Unlike most lines and pairings on these lists, it’s not overachieving right now, which is downright scary for teams that face the Flames over the next couple months.

To all those worried about Hamonic's underlying numbers

Here's Hamonics corsi for and against currently
Corsi for 258 Corsi against 281.Here's Hamonic's underlying numbers on November 1 before he went down with an injury.
Corsi for 198 Corsi against 192 Percentage: 50.8%
That's literally a difference of a 5 game skid post injury, which caused a 3% dip in corsi.

How the Oilers became the NHL’s biggest disappointment

Here we are not just a quarter of the way through the season and there is no debating that the Oilers have not only failed to reach those sky-high expectations, they are clearly the league’s biggest disappointment.
Entering play on Wednesday — and following an 8-3 drubbing at the hands of the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night — the Oilers have the third worst points percentage in the league, ahead of only the Arizona Coyotes and Buffalo Sabres. Their minus-19 goal differential is fourth-worst. They have managed to win just four games in regulation with only two of them coming over the past month.
So, how did they get here? Let us try to figure it out.