GDFD No. 69: Do or die
Ryan Lambert
March 15 2010 05:12PM
Welcome to the Game Day Fire Drill, for this, Calgary’s 69th game of the season on March 15, 2010.
This is a make-or-break game for Calgary.
Win and regain eighth place with an eye toward overtaking Nashville for seventh. Lose and slip ever-closer to the scorching-hot Blues for 10th, and who-knows-what after that.
This is the fourth and final meeting between these two teams and Calgary has taken the last two 7-2 on aggregate, which is encouraging. But the thing is that what made the Flames so successful on that little winning streak of theirs was the absence of what cost them the game last night. Calgary played 240 straight minutes, more or less, which was a novel and exciting interesting approach to the sport, at least for this team.
Last night, not so much. The first 20 minutes consisted almost entirely of what makes a person a successful spectator: standing around, watching, not involving yourself in anything. The last two periods of that game were far more successful because the Flames, surely inspired by Staios, played the style that won them four straight games. The hole was too deep, but still, there were positives.
Obviously another good effort tonight would go a long way toward solidifying a playoff spot. So let's try for that then.
Who
The Calgary Flames (34-25-9 for 77 points. Ninth in the West, third in the Northwest) and the Detroit Red Wings (32-23-12 for 78 points. Eighth in the West, third in the Central).
When
7:30 p.m. Mountain time and 9:30 p.m. Eastern time. All other time zones should not really understand what they're advertising.
Where
Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta.
Calgary is 17-15-3 at home this year, and just beat Detroit last week. The Red Wings are 14-13-7 on the road, and have won six of their last eight games.
What (to hate about the Red Wings)
Tomas Holmstrom — Goaltender interference machine, hysterically overrated by Detroit fans, just like every other Red Wing that ever came through the organization.
Niklas Kronwall — Wonder which Flame he's going to attempt to cripple tonight.
Chris Osgood — Sucks.
Why
Because Staios will stop this skid before it starts! Enjoy the game and ride Steve Staios to victory in the comments section.
Wait...the Blues are hot now?
It's a cruel world.
Baby I'll ride Staios to victory all. Night. Long.
I understand the idea about strength of schedule and simulating the remaining season so many times to get projected results, but it still seems odd that a Calgary win tonight would give the Flames one more point and two more wins than the Wings with games played being even and yet Sports Club Stats figures Detroit would still be a 54.1-46.3 favourite to earn a playoff spot compared to the Flames.
Still say the Blues should have been a playoff team this season, even with that unexciting goalie tandem. Just not sure whether they fired Andy Murray too soon or too late.
I think the Blues are a couple of years away from being a very good team. Problem is, all their main weapons are a few years removed from peak performance, be it the old guys (Tkachuk, Kariya) or the young guys (Oshie, Berglund, Johnson, Perron). Once the kids grow up a bit, the Blues are going be a team to fear.
So Aaron Johnson is tearing it up for the Oilers - I never considered his loss to be a significant variable in the equation of that deal, but it's still kind of bitterly ironic.
So it looks like Dawes is starting on a line with Conroy and Moss with Hagman getting the bump. I wonder when Kotalik will get the eventual demotion?
There's a good first shift for Dawes.
Kipper with an amazing save to preserve the one goal lead.
Maybe it's mostly reputation but no matter what their record is, the Red Wings just always look dangerous.
The Flames PP is truly putrid.
When you boast guys like Datsyuk, Franzen and Zetterberg, you always are.
True enough, but then there's Drew Miller flying around tonight.
Flames outchanced 5-4 in that period. Calgary had a good opening 10 minutes, but did nothing after that.
Hey, Pierre McGuire had the same count as you! That's a good thing, right?
I think Dawes has looked pretty good tonight.
I'm not so sure now.
Flames are getting a few more chances in this period.
Yikes. That's a rough way to have the game tied up.
Brings up the old story — wouldn't the Flames have rather had a penalty there instead of a penalty shot?
Chances were even at 6-6 in that period.
No kidding. Especially in light of the result.
TSN panel ready to declare the West's race for No. 8 spot is over based on the Wings' "complete domination" of the second period. Presumably they mean the second period of this game since there are no other games in progress.
I have no idea what they're talking about. The shots were close, the chances were even, the corsi favored CGY. Without a marginal call to Staios in the last 2 minutes, the Wings are still behind in this one.
I think it goes back to the earlier remark about the Red Wings inspiring a respect/fear factor based on reputation as much as talent.
It's absolutely stunning how bad the Flames PP is. I can't seem to get over it.
Well, another last minute goal. That might be it for the local heroes this year.