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 falling behind by scores of 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3, the Flames battled back to beat the Flyers 5-4 in overtime in a back-and-forth battle at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
1. BOUNCE BACK
After a lopsided 8-2 loss to the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit in the opener of a six-game road trip on Wednesday night, the Flames bounced back with a much more inspired performance at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia in the second game of their season-long trip on Saturday.
While the Flames were far from perfect, they fought back and found a way to win what was a highly-entertaining game.
2. FIRST-CAREER HAT TRICK FOR MONAHAN
Sean Monahan, the sixth overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, has scored 37 more goals than any other player from that draft class… so it’s hard to believe that the Flames forward scored his first-career hat trick in Saturday’s game.
With his team trailing 3-1 and 4-3, Monahan scored not one, not two but three power play goals in the second period, with the first two tying the game at three and the third one squaring the score at four. With 118 goals and 237 points in 337 games, not only does Monahan have more goals and points than any player from the 2013 Draft, he also has more goals and points than any player selected in the 2012 Draft.
3. JOHNNY BE GREAT
I hate to sound like a broken record (especially since I love vinyl), but Johnny Gaudreau has taken his game to another level this season – offensively and defensively.
Playing 20 minutes from his parents’ home in Carney’s Point, New Jersey, Gaudreau was once again the Flames’ best player on Saturday, when he stretched his career-long goal streak to five games and his point streak to a career-long nine games with one goal and two assists against the team he grew up cheering for.
As good as Johnny Hockey was offensively, the play that he made defensively on the bigger and stronger Wayne Simmonds in overtime shouldn’t be overlooked. While I haven’t yet seen the league’s top two point producers (Lightning forwards Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov) play in person this season, I can’t imagine any NHL forward is playing at a higher level than Gaudreau is right now.
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4. FEELING SPECIAL
I hate to be so blunt, but the truth is the Flames power play, and to an even greater extent, the penalty kill, have killed them in the 2017-2018 season. In Wednesday’s 8-2 loss to the Red Wings, the Flames scored one powerplay goal but surrendered four of them, in addition to one shorthanded goal.
On Saturday, the Flyers power play went one-for-three, but with the score tied at four, the Flames killed-off the penalty that Matt Stajan took with just 2:01 left in the third period to preserve a point and give themselves a chance to get two in overtime. On the power play, the Flames scored a season-high three goals, going three-for-five with the man advantage.
Special teams will win and lose teams a lot of games and the Flames’ struggling power play and penalty kill has cost them some games this season, but on Saturday, it was one of the reasons why they won.
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5. TRAVELLING IN STYLE
In my opinion, one of the turning points in the Flames’ 2016-2017 season was a train ride from Montreal to Ottawa.
Following his team’s fourth straight loss, head coach Glen Gulutzan publicly blasted his team following a 5-1 loss to the Canadiens on Jan. 24. After the game, instead of flying from Montreal to Ottawa, the team took the train. It was a great idea – a throw back to the way Original Six teams used to travel.
The problem was the Flames were playing some of their worst hockey of the season and their bench boss had run out of patience. Gulutzan was so upset with his players that following the game he told Flames Director of Team Operations, Sean O’Brien, to have the (adult) beverage cart removed from the players’ train. Shortly after departing Ottawa, Gulutzan walked onto the players’ car and asked them if they wanted to have a couple of beers.
The players loved that idea but Gulutzan had one request, the players had to put down their phones, take off their headphones and talk. And they did. In fact, not only did the players talk, they seemed to figure things out and find a way to turn their season around.
With that said, the train ride from Montreal to Ottawa following that loss to the Canadiens felt a lot different than the one from Philadelphia to Washington after a win over the Flyers. Not only were the players feeling good – they were looking good, all dressed in a 1950’s theme.
As someone who has done team services at the AHL-level, I can tell you it is usually a thankless job. When everything goes according to plan, thanks in large part to all of the work that you’ve put in, nobody says a word. But, when something (anything!) goes wrong, even when it has nothing to do with you, look out!
So a tip of the fedora to O’Brien, who does a great job behind the scenes making the coaches and players (and broadcasters) lives easier, allowing them to focus on being at their best when the puck drops. Thanks, OB.
