Unsustainable.
I was one the many who wrote that the Calgary Flames would have to find a new, more traditional way to win games this season (GM Brad Treliving agreed), because the numbers on their run in 2014-15 campaign would be impossible to repeat.
You’ve seen them all before and we won’t re-cover old ground, but the NHL’s second best shooting percentage (10.53 per cent, all situations) was perhaps the most unsustainable.
Well, the Flames have reeled off seven straight wins to resurrect their season. Yes, their shooting percentage during that streak is 12.4 per cent, but overall this season, they’ve managed to climb past the .500 mark (15-14-2) with a 14th-ranked 9.08 shooting percentage.
Of course, it’s the overtime shots that have put Calgary into third in the weak Pacific, and you can thank water bug Johnny Gaudreau for that.
This season Gaudreau has already tied the record for most OT points in a campaign since five-minute overtime came into the league in 1983-84. Calgary is 8-1 in OT this season, which represents this season’s unsustainable Flames stat. Gaudreau has seven OT points, equaling the record held by Markus Naslund (2003-04) and Joe Thornton in (2005-06).
Gaudreau was asked by the Calgary Sun if he smiles when the game gets to overtime. “I think the whole team smiles because we’ve been playing well three-on-three. There’s a lot of time and space. I like it.”
When he arrived from college, plenty of people thought Gaudreau was simply too small for the NHL — including some voices from inside the Flames organization, which have gone silent now. But others saw the fighting spirit in Gaudreau.
A scout once told me a story that occurred during an NCAA game between Gaudreau’s Boston College Eagles and Northeastern, where Anaheim defenceman Josh Manson played his college hockey. The much bigger Manson tried to intimidate Gaudreau, and Gaudreau buried with him a sneaky crosscheck to the ribs, ending Manson’s night.
Gaudreau doesn’t give back as much in the NHL, but I’ve seen him get creamed, dust himself off and stick his nose right back into the play. You can be small in today’s NHL. You just can’t be scared, and Gaudreau has plenty of courage.
Meanwhile the Flames are back at it, driving the analytics nerds crazy: They rank 30th in PP (10.8 per cent), 30th in PK (72.6 per cent) and 29th in team save percentage (.882). Yet they’re winning games and in a playoff position.
Unsustainable!
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Burrowing deeper
We’ve all said some things in our youth that we’d like to take back. I know I have. Alex Burrows, who felt he needed every perceptible edge possible to make the jump from the ECHL, to the AHL and then stay in the NHL, just has more of those moments than most of us.
But now we know: When Burrows said last month he hadn’t crossed any lines with comments that enraged recovering alcoholic Jordin Tootoo, Burrows was referring to a line set so far into the depths of the uncaring, it may be impossible to find, let alone cross.
Patrick O’Sullivan revealed on twitter this week that Burrows twice chirped him about abuse suffered at the hands of his father.
@TheNHLisCrazy @PuckLuck1 @BruceIsOnline @vijayk416 Burrows only guy who said he wanted to hurt me like me father did-why I can't stand him
— Patrick O'Sullivan (@realPOSULLIVAN) December 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/realPOSULLIVAN/status/677568109981663233
Asked about it after Thursday’s game, Burrows told reporters, “I see that it was bigger than what I really thought back then. I apologize if I offended him back then.”
Sorry? “If” he offended him? After that little nugget from the P.R. handbook, Burrows went on to justify his behaviour.
“Especially when I first came (to the NHL), I was playing six or seven minutes a night on the fourth line and I wanted to help any way I could. And if I could get one guy off his game and get in someone’s kitchen, I was willing to do it to help our team or maybe get (us) on the power play,” he said. “For sure, sometimes I tried to get in his kitchen and get him off his game. Back then, I didn’t know the magnitude of it. I read his story on The Players’ Tribune last week and I saw how bad he had it. It’s tough to see for sure.
“I think I’ve matured a lot. I grew as a player and a person and in today’s society, for sure. It’s something I’ve got to be careful (about). I wouldn’t cross that line now.”
I honestly like Burrows as a man. Shook his hand at the start of the season, as two guys whose paths have crossed many, many times. I’ll say it again: He’s a pretty good guy of the ice, as far as I know Burrows.
But in this case he should have abjectly apologized, left out all the self-serving conditions about the type of player he was, and certainly not wondered “IF” he offended O’Sullivan. If Burrows truly has grown up, he owes O’Sullivan better than this.
•••
Rainbow coloured passes
While we’re talking inclusiveness, how about this initiative that’s come out of the University of Alberta and is being backed by Edmonton Oilers Andrew Ference: Pride Tape.
It’s an initiative from the U of A’s Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services, and should result in rainbow-coloured hockey blades across the country. “It’s a badge of support from the hockey community to LGBTQ youth,” said Kris Wells, faculty director of iSMSS, in a news release.
Loving this movement, as hockey moves forward.
•••
Lindback-up
Now that goalie Mike Smith is out long-term after undergoing “core muscle” surgery, it’s Anders Lindback time in Arizona. If that makes ‘Yotes fans nervous, try being head coach Dave Tippett.
“As a starting goalie you need to step it up and be able to steal some games here and there and really be steady at all times,” Lindback said prior to his first start as the defacto No. 1 on Thursday. Later that night he was yanked after allowing four goals on 10 shots.
I have no idea if backup Louie Domingue can eventually be a No. 1, but based on Lindback’s career save percentage of .904, we’re pretty sure he’s not the answer in Glendale. You can bet every GM with a spare goalie has been on the phone to Coyotes GM Don Maloney, starting with Maloney’s former assistant GM Brad Treliving in Calgary.
•••
Canucks redux
One more item on Vancouver, a team in the depths of some organizational struggles right now. They’ve won just five of their last 21 games, are without second line centre Brandon Sutter (sports hernia) for another month, and on Thursday night lost captain Henrik Sedin to injury.
Of course, losing Henrik means losing some percentage of his winger Daniel, and those two have carried the Canucks offensively this season.
The Canucks lost their sixth straight on the road in Philadelphia Thursday, scoring five times in those six losses. They’ve scored 14 goals in their last 11 games, and the Flyers shutout was the Canucks’ fourth time in 18 days.
Where’s the cavalry when you need it?
