The Calgary Flames exploded for eight goals in New Year’s Eve victory over the San Jose Sharks. Now the club heads out on a road trip that sees them visit Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago.
Here are some Flames Thoughts as Calgary looks to carry over its big finish to 2018 into the New Year.
New Year’s Eve slobber-knocker!
Monday night’s showdown between the Flames and Sharks must have been more fun than a barrel full of monkeys for the sellout crowd of 19,289 inside of Scotiabank Saddledome.
In a game that featured 13 goals — including some that you’ll see on the highlight reel — and 78 penalty minutes — including 15 for Sam Bennett, who smoked Radim Simek and then fought Barclay Goodrow with less than 30 seconds left in the game — the feisty Flames defeated the surly Sharks by a final score of 8-5.
Before the game, I called it the biggest match so far this season for both sides. So, I suppose it was the biggest win so far this season for the Flames. In addition to once again proving that they’re one of the most explosive teams in the NHL, the Flames also showed that they’re not going to be pushed around. I love the ‘team toughness’ that the Flames have played with this season.
With the win, the Flames finished 2018 in sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division and tied with the Central Division-leading Winnipeg Jets for top spot in the Western Conference.
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Best line in the league?
With 12 points between them, the line of Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm led the way for the Flames offensively in their victory over the Sharks. Monahan established new career-highs for assists and points in a game with five assists. Despite having one of his three assists taken away on a scoring change, Gaudreau equaled his career-high for points in a game with four (two goals, two assists). Elias Lindholm equaled his season-high for points in a game with three (one goal, two assists).
Going into 2019, Gaudreau sits fifth in the Art Ross Trophy race with 55 points, while Monahan’s 48 points are tied for 13th and Lindholm’s 44 points are tied for 20th. The Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm line has combined for 147 points this season, which is second behind only the Avalanche combination of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, which has 166 points.
With that said, during the month of December, the Flames’ first line got hotter, recording 65 points in 14 games, while the Avalanche’s top line cooled off a little, collecting 51 points in 13 games.
So I got to thinking… do the Flames have the best line in hockey? I asked some of my media colleagues and a few members of the Flames’ coaching staff to weigh-in on the other top lines in the league. My short-list is below.
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Neal goes from heel to hero
On July 2, Flames general manager Brad Treliving landed one of the biggest fish in the free agency pond when he signed James Neal to a five-year, $28.75 million contract. Coming off of a 25-goal season with the Vegas Golden Knights, Neal appeared to be a perfect fit for the Flames. The team needed a top-six right-winger who could score from anywhere. Ideally, the player would also add size, grit and playoff experience to a group of forwards lacking in all three areas.
As a six-foot-two, 221-pound right-winger who scored 21-or-more goals in each of his first 10 NHL seasons, some from the middle of the ice using his size and strength and some from perimeter with his lethal shot, and as a guy who had competed in the Stanley Cup playoffs in eight-straight seasons, playing in the finals in each of the last two seasons, ‘The Real Deal’ Neal checked all of the boxes.
Unfortunately, things didn’t get off to a good start. Neal failed to find instant chemistry with Monahan and Gaudreau on the Flames’ first line or with Mikael Backlund and Matthew Tkachuk on the second line. The 31-year-old has spent most of the season playing on the right side of the third line, where there has been a revolving door at both centre and left wing, and on the second power play unit, which until recently, had struggled to score.
For most of the season, Neal has looked like a frustrated player searching for his game and his confidence. But by the looks of it, a four-day Christmas break may have been just what the doctor ordered.
Neal has looked different since he stepped onto the ice in Winnipeg for the morning skate on Dec. 27. He’s moving his feet. The puck is exploding off his stick. Despite getting a number of grade-A chances in the Flames’ 4-1 victory over the Jets, Neal couldn’t capitalize. Neal had another strong game on Dec. 29, but failed to score in his team’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Canucks. The good news was Neal was playing the right way, regularly putting himself in positions to score. It was only a matter of time. Right?
Well, he was finally rewarded for all of his hard work against the Sharks. With his team clinging to a one-goal lead early in the third period of a wild game that was still very much up for grabs, Neal stepped up and scored his biggest goal as a member of the Flames, which ultimately stood as the game winner. Flames fans responded with a standing ovation for Neal, who with the weight of the world — and a 24-game goalless streak dating back to Nov. 1 — off of his shoulders, smiled from ear-to-ear.
In his first 38 games with the Flames, Neal scored three goals on 87 shots. That 3.4 shooting percentage was simply unsustainable for a player with a career shooting percentage of 11.8 per cent. I’m anxious to see if Neal’s New Year’s Eve goal will get him going. If it does, the high-scoring Flames will be even more difficult to deal with.
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Oh Canada!
Three seasons ago, no Canadian teams made the Stanley Cup playoffs. Two seasons ago, five north-of-the-border clubs qualified for post-season play. Last season, only the Jets and Maple Leafs played spring hockey.
This season, four of the seven Canadian teams rang in the New Year in a playoff spot — and three of them appear to be series contenders for the Cup.
With the Toronto Maple Leafs, who haven’t won the Cup since 1967, currently sitting second overall, and the Jets and the Flames tied for third, there’s a great chance that this June, a Canadian team will be drinking out of the Stanley Cup for the first time since the Montreal Canadiens did in 1993.
Road trippin’
The 24-12-4 Flames will open a four-game road trip on Wednesday, when they take on the 15-19-7 Red Wings in Detroit. The two teams split their 2017-18 season series. Jaromir Jagr scored his first goal as a Flame — and likely his last in the NHL, in the Flames’ 6-3 win in Calgary on Nov. 9. One week later, the Red Wings routed the Flames 8-2 in a fight and penalty-filled affair in Detroit. The Red Wings went four-for-six on the power play in a game that got nasty with 131 penalty minutes between the two teams.
Following Wednesday’s game, the Flames will fly to Boston, where they’ll battle the 21-14-4 Bruins in the second half of a back-to-back on Thursday. The Flames beat the Bruins 5-2 in Calgary on Oct. 17. The “3M Line” of Backlund, Tkachuk and Michael Frolik led the way for the Flames in the win with two points apiece in that game.
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The trip continues Saturday in Philadelphia against the 15-18-5 Flyers. When these teams met on Dec. 12, the Flames scored two goals in the final 1:08 of the third period, both with an extra attacker on the ice, before completing the comeback 35 seconds into overtime, when Gaudreau scored his league co-leading third overtime goal of the season for a 6-5 win.
The Flames will wrap up the road trip on Jan. 7, when they’ll battle the 15-20-6 Blackhawks in Chicago. Following a 5-2 victory at home on Nov. 3 and a 3-2 triumph on the road on Dec. 2, the Flames can sweep the three-game season series with a win.
Only four of the Flames’ 11 games in the month of January are against teams with above .500 records, so if Calgary can take care of business, they should have a larger lead in the Pacific Division at the end of the month.
