Postgame: Very Tight
Pat Steinberg
September 12 2011 08:44PM
The Calgary Flames dropped to 0-2 at the Young Stars Tournament in Penticton thanks to a 4-3 overtime loss on Monday night at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks. Following their 6-1 loss to San Jose the previous night, Calgary's prospects were a whole lot better and once again, there were some standout performances. The Flames close out the action Wednesday night against the Edmonton Oilers.
What Happened
The Canucks opened the scoring on this one, but things were tight from start to finish. The Flames prospects were certainly a whole lot better, and if you eliminate some of the misfortune from Sunday, things were much closer. Calgary had a lead late in the third period thanks to the first goal of the tournament from Michael Ferland, but an even later goal from Vancouver sent us to overtime which is where things were settled.
First Period
1. Vancouver. Kellan Tochkin (Craig Duininck) 2:24
2. Calgary. Patrick Holland (Max Reinhart) 15:35 (pp)
Second Period
3. Vancouver. Nathan Longpre (Yann Sauve, Bill Sweatt) 3:54 (pp)
4. Calgary. Patrick Holland 2 (Max Reinhart) 16:57
Third Period
5. Calgary. Michael Ferland (Dustin Sylvester) 16:20
6. Vancouver. Nathan Longpre 2 (Antoine Roussel) 19:45
Overtime
7. Vancouver. Antoine Roussel (Nathan Longpre) 0:16
The overtime winner was a strange one. The Vancouver skater was able to beat defender T.J. Brodie wide, but as Brodie got his stick on the puck, it kind of bounced up and eventually Roussel got credit for the goal. Brodie put it on himself following the game, essentially admitting he was at fault.
What a great game for the Flames top line, with Max Reinhart, Patrick Holland and Sven Baertschi running things virtually everytime they were on the ice. Reinhart was strong, showing a hard nosed approach to gaining the net front area while Holland is a very savvy and smart player. I know Baertschi comes away with no points, but he had a very strong night as well.
It was good to see Joni Ortio's game a little better than it was the night prior; I know there were one or two interesting ones that got behind him, but I'm willing to let him develop slowly to the North American game. He's young and there's no urgency for him to be ready right now, either at the NHL or AHL level. The NHL is covered with Kiprusoff and Karlsson while Leland Irving will carry most of the mail in Abbotsford.
One Good Reason...
...why the Flames lost? An overtime goal. That's about it, as this one was pretty tight, and it was another solid outing from the Flames youngsters. Clearly, the result matters to the guys on the ice and they were slightly peeved to let this one slip, but from this standpoint, the result really isn't all that important. Certain players had impressive nights, and the team itself was better than the night before.
Red Warrior
Patrick Holland had a great game, and I give him the honor on the heels of more than just his two goals. He was runner-up against the Sharks, and playing with Reinhart again, he was very strong. What I like about him is his vision and ability to play at both ends of the ice; offensively, he and Reinhart do a nice job in gaining and controlling possession, and Holland is a good foil to Reinhart. While Max shows an ability to take the puck to the front of the net, Holland has shown a good knack to know where the puck is going to be and how to feed that puck low.
Sum It Up
Hey, it was better than the night before, and that's really all that matters. Some players haven't done a lot of impressing to this point, but the fact is, we can't read too, too much into games this early in the preseason. Still, it's nice to see this group play better than the night previous, and it sure would be nice to see the Flames take out the Oilers on Wednesday.
It's very unsettling to see how poorly Brodie has been playing. He won't be making the Flames if he's going to be playing this poorly defensively.
@ashasx
Well, he IS coming off a season ending injury. Of course he is gonna go into this rustier than others. I thought he looked far and above for most of the game.
@ashasx
He made a few mistakes. But overall I thought Brodie was pretty solid this game.
Brodie is'nt ready for the NHL quite yet, but I don't think theres any need to rush the guy. Heck, the dude is gonna have a real tough time making the team even if he does turn some heads at training camp. It's not like him not making the team out of camp is the be all end all. Brodie is still working on the defensive aspect of his game, while the offensive part is pretty good. He's looked confident with the puck out there, and made some solid rushes. I liked most of his game tonight, thought he played a pretty good game overall. Sure, he made a mistake in the OT, but that's gonna happen with a young d-man. He's probably gonna play the season down in Abby, play some meaningful minutes playing in all situations, and continue to develop. People always say that developing a defenceman is more difficult than developing a forward, cause theres more responcibilities that come playing on the blueline. Hey, if Brodies not ready, he'll be the first guy called up in case of injury.
The Flames don't need Brodie to be ready come October so if he isn't, there's no reason he can't spend more time ripening on the vine in the AHL. Frankly, it would cause a lot more problems if he was 100% ready to go.
@Kent Wilson
Agreed. I see absolutely no reason for any of the kids today to play in the NHL this year. I highly doubt any of them will force Feasters hand.
Am I the only one who thinks we may have some better forward prospects than we may have previously realized?
@Emir
For relatively unknowns, I really like Bancks and Patterson. Two guys that really drive possesion in the AHL in the hardest of competition.
I thnik Ortio needs this year to get acclimitized & will be fine. Lot of new faces that will need to forge some chemistry, should be a fun year watching Abbotsford. Really like Reinhart, Holland & Bartsche. I see some skill that many have said we lacked. It's a start.
I agree on that. Some of whom I've never even heard of before (the guys on tryouts).
Also, on Holland, loved the kid in the interview; he strikes me as highly intelligent.
Yes. You're the only one. I don't see any potential top 6 forwards outside of maybe Baertschi.
@Jayamania
Yes. You're the only one. I don't see any potential top 6 forwards outside of maybe Baertschi.
It depends what you define as top six...I think Reinhart could play top six NHL minutes in a head-to-head role. He can drive possession and add points.
On the Brodie front, I agree with the assessment that says he's not ready for the NHL, and that's just fine.
I'd much rather see him spend another year in the AHL then be pushed just because "he's young and new". That makes no sense. Play a guy when he's ready, and Brodie isn't ready right now.
Pat, I believe your title should have been spelled "Very Toight"?? (Isn't dat Veeeerd?) Your red warrior is 100% spot on. I was very impressed with Holland, (WHAT a goal!) but I was frankly surprised by Reinhart, i've watched him for a while now in the dub, whenever the Ice pass through Calgary, and he's never REALLY been a head turner, but I was very impressed with what I saw from him last night. I think he's got the type of game that's going to translate well to the major leagues. I could totally see him playing some top 6 minutes in the NHL, if he continues to progress like this. I didn't see game 1 vs the Sharks prospects, but Baertschi didn't really seem very noticeable to me last night. As far as Ortio goes, he didn't look out of place last night..he looked, well...young I guess is the only way I could describe it. Do you know who owns his junior rights in North America? (Im not even sure how old he is, maybe he's too old?) Where will he play this year? Does he really have a shot at backing up Irving in Abby?
Of course, this is just game 2 of a single tournament right after summer break, so who could know what these guys really are at this point.
....speaking of juniors and the Hitmen - I thought Kosterman looked fine out there..wasn't outwardly noticeable for the most part, so that's a good thing. How much ice did he see? Is Dustin Sylvester related to Cody of the Hitmen? If he's the guy I'm thinking of, he's Cody's big brother. Nice to see some kids with local ties getting a shot with the Flames.
I like Reinhart a lot, but that's a little bit of a strecth at this point.
Some kids up front look good, but we frankly don't know anything about them at this point, particularly the juniors. Dustin Boyd, for example, always stood out to me in things like this and he topped out as a 12th/13th forward in the NHL.
We'll get a bit more info when/if some of these guys progress to main camp.
Actually got to watch some of the game. That Finnish goalie, not ready, but don't think its the smaller ice. As for Sven (can't believe they drafted a guy named that) we talk about "he had no points but a good game". Well sometime this guy who is appearently is an offensive specialist has to prove it (ya ya 2 games). He's too small for now, needs some maturing. Holland and reinhart are surprising me but again I agree with Ken some guys tear it up in Jr. Nick Kypreos scored 62 goals in junior.
Obviously optimism must be exercised with a giant dollop of caution at this point, but can anyone give me some sense of the competition guys like Reinhardt-Baertschi-Holland are facing? For example, if they are facing down guys of the ilk of Nemisz-Bouma-Wahl-Howse or Lander-RNH that bodes extremely well for the younger guys as they are younger with more ceiling. If, on the other hand, they are simply beating up 2010 and 2011 3rd round draft picks from the Canucks and Sharks - well...I will really wait for that first pre-season game. I just have no sense of what the level of competition the Canucks and Sharks are throwing up.
From what I have seen of Reinhart in last years playoffs and in this tournament he reminds me a lot of Langkow in his prime. Really smart two way player who can put up pretty good numbers. Wouldn't be surprised to see him with the Flames in 2 years. Maybe even next year. Like most of you I have been a bit disappointed in Brodie, but he is still young and coming into this training camp I thought he still would need another year in Abby. The guy on defense who has impressed is John Negrin. Glad to see that after all the injuries he has had.Maybe he will be ready in 2012. Although he wasn't a star last night I did notice C.J Severyn much more than I would have expected.
@Tach
Tach, to be honest, there hasn't been a lot of blatant line matching done so far in this tournament, as it's less about that.
I can say, however, that Reinhart was typically matched against the best of the best through the WHL playoffs and the Memorial Cup. That includes Baertschi and Nino on Portland and Schenn in Saskatoon.
Pat,
That's helpful. I didn't think there was line matching per se, I just meant generally speaking are we watching them play against top juniors? WJC level? Mid-tier AHL? Just trying to get a feel for what, if anything, we can take away.