It's been a long wait since opening night, but here we are - the Flames are thirstin' for some revenge against the dreaded Grease tonight at the 'Dome!
Calgary Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan thought that Thursday’s 3-0 win over the visiting Arizona Coyotes was exactly that — their most complete effort in 2017-18. Other games may come to mind (Calgary’s 2-0 win at Anaheim on Oct. 9, a 2-1 OT victory over Pittsburgh on Nov. 2, a 6-3 win over Detroit on Nov. 9) but the Flames certainly improved from Tuesday’s 4-1 stinker against Toronto. “I maybe had some disagreements with Connie (Craig Conroy),” Gulutzan said. “But it’s something we’re going to build off of.”
The Flames had a meeting after Tuesday’s game against Toronto and challenged their team to take care of unforced errors, better puck management and smarter play in general. Calgary improved to 14-10-1. “I thought we did a good job of keeping the game simple,” Gulutzan said. “You see what happens. I challenged the ‘D’ here . . . they’re a very coachable group and they want to win.” They’ll need the same effort in Saturday’s second instalment of the Battle of Alberta.
The Oilers picked up Nathan Walker off waivers on Friday from the Washington Capitals, the first Australian born player to play in the NHL. The feisty 23-year-old winger was born in Wales but grew up in Sydney. He moved to the Czech Republic in 2007 in order to pursue his hockey career, playing with the HC Vitkovice. Walker was selected in the third round of the 2014 NHL draft by Washington. He ha played seven games for the Capitals this year, scoring once and racking up four penalty minutes.
After being held point-less in Thursday’s game, LW Johnny Gaudreau was stuck at 19 points in November and just missed beating a franchise record for points in the month of November. Five players have done it: Carey Wilson (1987), Joe Mullen (1988), Doug Gilmour (1988), Gary Roberts (1992), and Jarome Iginla (2009). Heading into Friday’s games, Gaudreau was still sitting third in NHL scoring with 11 goals and 23 assists and 34 points in 25 games. He sat only behind Tampa Bay snipers Nikita Kucherov (17 goals and 19 assists) and Steven Stamos (11 goals and 26 assists).
Klefblom - Benning
Nurse - Russell (possibly an extra shot from the slot for the Flames)
Auvitu - Gryba
Brossoit (unconfirmed)
...and even though the Flames have had their difficulties so far this season, it's gratifying to know that Edmonton's are far, far worse. Watching the Oil Tanker founder is always fun, and That Darn Puppet and L'il Scorch are in for a closer view:
Spoiler!
Go Flames
__________________
"If Javex is your muse…then dive in buddy"
- Surferguy
The Following 67 Users Say Thank You to Puppet Guy For This Useful Post:
We had a problem with McDavid last time we played. If we limit his space better, he shouldn’t play as well. Brossoit gives us a better chance to win too.
Flames should have McPouty's opening night hat trick on repeat in the dressing room, with related media quotes predicting 100+ goals / 200+ points scrawled all over the whiteboard. I want them to be so pissed that they resolve to wipe away every last memory of October 4th from our collective memory. Go Flames.
Get lots of pucks on Brossoit who seems to be all over the map making spectacular saves on some plays and letting in soft goals on others. The defense needs to make a concerted effort to keep McDavid ahead of them. No pinching when he's on the ice as he's burned this group far too many times.
__________________ "There will be a short outage tonight sometime between 11:00PM and 1:00AM as network upgrades are performed. Please do not panic and overthrow society. Thank you."
The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true. Go Flames Go!
I've been (mostly) a GG supporter since the day he arrived. But this losing to the Oilers thing really has to stop. Them sweeping us last season and winning game 1 is pretty much the only shining light their team has these days.
By five minutes in Brossoit has faced 22 shots and has let in 5. Since McLellan refused to pull him, or even look over at him from the bench, Brossoit in a fit of rage pulls off his jersey and throws it into centre ice. And storms off the ice, yelling that he is quitting hockey. Forever.
McDavid, watching this, has a revelation. The fans watching see his face change from his usual glum acceptance of a horrible fate into shining hope. He jumps onto the ice from the bench, adds his jersey to Brossoit's, and continues in Slapshotesque style until he dances off the ice in his jock, giggling something about, "Now they'll have no choice but to trade me or bench me forever."
The rest of the team toils fruitlessly through the rest of the game in desultory fashion, but 30 seconds after the final whistle all that remains on the ice is a celebrating Flames team and 20 discarded Oilers jerseys at centre ice, along with McLellan's suit jacket. The pile of jerseys quickly growing as a few exiting Oilers fans add their own.
Last edited by Zamboniman; 12-02-2017 at 10:37 AM.
The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Zamboniman For This Useful Post:
There is an excellent chance to really break the Oilers back tonight. Flames win in regulation could (depending on the score between the Hawks and the Stars) put the Oilers 8 points out of the playoffs with every team they're chasing holding at least one game in hand with one third of the season done. That is an opportunity you just can't pass up, so please, please Flames, just win this game.
The Following User Says Thank You to crapshoot For This Useful Post:
Flames vs Oilers, 8:00 PM MST. CBC, Fan 960
