Derek Wills is the Calgary Flames radio play-by-play announcer on Sportsnet 960 The FAN. He shares his views about the Flames’ latest game.
After surrendering a goal 62 seconds into the game against the Washington Capitals, Mike Smith stopped the next 29 shots and the Flames scored four unanswered goals in 4-1 win.
1. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
The two-time defending Presidents’ Trophy-champion Capitals seem to bring out the best in the Flames.
After playing what I believe was their best game this season in a 2-1 victory over the Capitals at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Oct. 29, the Flames weren’t quite as good at Capital One Arena in Washington on Monday, but they were certainly the better of the two teams.
After a sluggish start allowed the Capitals to take a 1-0 lead on a Lars Eller goal 1:02 into the game, Johnny Gaudreau’s game-tying goal at 4:49 of the first seemed to get the Flames going. With the exception of a five-minute stretch late in the second period when the Capitals were buzzing and came close to squaring the score, the Flames pretty much dominated the final 50 minutes to complete a sweep of the two-game season series between the two teams.
2. MAGNIFICENT MIKE
If there was any doubt how important Smith was to the Flames before he suffered an upper-body injury in last Monday’s 7-4 victory over the Blues, there isn’t now.
Eddie Lack replaced Smith following the first period of that game and played well enough to get his first win as a Flame. Last Wednesday, in his second start of the season, Lack was pulled after allowing five goals on 15 shots. His replacement, Jon Gillies, wasn’t much better, surrendering three goals on 12 shots in an 8-2 loss to the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
After missing five periods, Smith returned to the Flames net for Saturday’s matinee matchup at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and, despite surrendering four goals, he stopped 35 shots in a 5-4 overtime win. Smith made a number of timely saves in that game, including one on Sean Couturier, who had a chance to potentially put the game out of reach when he got a short-handed breakaway with his team already leading 3-1.
In Saturday’s game, Smith looked a little like former Oilers great Grant Fuhr did in so many games during the high-scoring 1980s. Like Fuhr did throughout his Hall of Fame career, this season, Smith almost always seems to make big saves when the Flames need him to — and when he can’t afford to give up another goal. Much like Fuhr was for most of his career, Smith has usually been the better of the two goaltenders on the ice this season.
That was the case when the Flames faced Brian Elliott and the Flyers on Saturday and once again the case when they battled Braden Holtby and the Capitals on Monday. While I’ll never know for sure, without Smith the Flames are probably 1-2 or 0-3 instead of 2-1 in the first three games of their season-long six-game road trip.
3. DYNAMIC DUO
Gaudreau and Sean Monahan are hockey’s version of Batman and Robin right now.
Gaudreau remained the hottest player in the NHL on Monday, stretching his career-long and league-best goal and point streaks to six and 10 games, respectively, with a goal and an assist in the win. Monahan might not be quite as hot as his left-winger, but on Saturday he became the first Flames player to score three power-play goals in a period since the team relocated to Calgary from Atlanta. The Flames first-line centre scored another power-play goal in Monday’s win in Washington.
Monahan’s team-leading 12th of the season turned out to be game-winner, his NHL co-leading fifth of 2017-18. With 31 points, Gaudreau is third in the Art Ross Trophy race, four points behind Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos and two back of the Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov. With 12 goals, Monahan is tied for fifth in the Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy race. Opposing teams are well aware of how good Gaudreau and Monahan have been so far this season but, right now, they can’t seem to find a way to stop them … or even slow them down.
4. SPECIAL TEAMS SUCCESS
Prior to the last two games, special teams was the Flames’ biggest Achilles heel. But the penalty kill, and to an even greater extent, the power play, seem to have turned the corner.
After going 3-for-5 on the PP and 2-for-3 on the PK in Philadelphia, the Flames won the special teams battle again in Monday’s triumph over the Capitals, going 2-for-5 on the power play (for all intents and purposes they were 3-for-5 as Mark Giordano scored one second after a power play ended), while going a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill versus the Capitals’ lethal power play.
Assistant coaches Dave Cameron, who runs the power play, and Paul Jerrard, who is in charge of the penalty kill, have made some minor tweaks to what the Flames are doing on special teams and their hard work is starting to pay off. Ultimately, the players have to execute the coaches’ game plan — and they’ve been a lot sharper on both sides of special teams in the last two games.
5. 40 FOR 40
Since taking over behind the bench at the start of last season, coach Glen Gulutzan has stressed to his players — and anyone else who will listen — how important it is to have the lead through two periods of play. He’s 100 per cent right.
In the last 40 games his team has led in following 40 minutes, they’ve won 100 per cent of the time. That’s right, the Flames are 7-0-0 when they lead going into the third period this season and 40-0-0 since a 2-1 shootout loss to the Canucks on Oct. 15, 2016.
Since Gulutzan took over, the Flames have been the best team in the league when they start the third period with a lead. Elite teams know how to close out games. The Flames want to be — and believe they can be — an elite team. While they still have some work to do in other areas, their 40-0-1 record since the start of last season when leading through two periods is proof that they’ve developed the type of killer instinct that elite teams almost always have.
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