Post Game: Ray

                                    

                                                                            pic via: rayemeryfan

Every player has a team they really love playing against, a team they always find success against. For Ray Emery, that team is the Calgary Flames.

Emery has faced the Flames 11 times in his career and has won 8 of those contests, including this afternoon’s tilt in Philly. Calgary threw in another valiant effort but are left tasting the bitter taste of defeat. I’m sure spirits aren’t all too down though, with the Olympic break now officially in effect and many of the group will be heading off on family vacations for the next couple weeks.

The first period began fairly evenly, with both teams trading chances early. Reto Berra made a great cross crease pad save on a Wayne Simmonds wraparound opportunity in the first half of the period which foreshadowed the rest of the period for the Flames. Berra bailed his teammates out a few more times before 20 minutes expired, especially in the final five or six minutes when the Flyers brought the heat and hemmed the Flames in their own zone. The shots would settle at an 11 to 8 lead for the Flyers, but the scoreboard was yet to record a goal. 0-0 after one.

The second period began similar to how the first ended, with Flyer pressure. They controlled the play for the first few minutes but the playing field evened out in a hurry as the Flames found their legs and began applying pressure on the opposite side of the ice. Emery was sharp though, fending off a couple solid scoring chances from the guys in white. The deadlock would be snapped eight minutes into the period by Brayden Schenn who took a pass in the high slot and fed a dart top shelf on Berra. The entire sequence was a brutal one for the Flames who, as Sportsnet’s Neil Smith pointed out, were painfully unaggressive the entire play and looked like they were killing a penalty. Calgary would respond well though taking the play to the Flyers and generating a few more opportunities soon thereafter. Towards the end of the period Flyers’ mini goon Zac Rinaldo took a few runs at a couple Flames defensemen which didn’t sit well with McGrattan who confronted Rinaldo at the first opportunity he got, resulting in both being tossed, much to the chagrin of Flyers faithful who were itching for a bout. I wasn’t a big fan of the decision either, considering neither McGrattan nor Rinaldo did anything technically against the rules, they were simply chirping each other. Regardless, it remained a 1-0 Flyers lead after 2, with the shots now favouring the Flames 19-15. 

The third period was another solid one for Calgary but they just ran into a solid and very confident Ray Emery. The Flyers goaltender flashed his mastery of the Flames all throughout the period making a few big saves early, setting the stage for the Flyers to take a two goal lead. An odd, bouncing puck made it’s way through a few legs and right onto the tape of Claude Giroux who whipped in his 20th of the year past Berra at 15:56 of the third frame. The Flames would get most of the scoring chances for the rest of the game outshooting the Flyers 14-8 in the final frame, but were matched by Emery. The last five or so minutes of the game saw the Flames stage a furious comeback attempt throwing chance after chance at Emery – most prominently a David Jones pass right onto the stick of a charging Sean Monahan who deflected the puck in tight – but were turned aside every time by #29. At last, TJ Galiradi would generate a couple chances on a fantastic shift and Matt Stajan would rifle home a hard, low offering by Emery to give the Flames life, with just under three minutes to go. They would struggle to maintain consistent pressure for the remaining time though and would see Ray Emery emerge victorious once again from a game he probably didn’t deserve to win.  

Ray Emery turned in another tremendous performance against the Flames. Everything they threw at Emery, he had a response for. They were also victimized by a weird play on Giroux’s winning goal. It’s not very often a bouncing puck finds it’s away to the best player on the other team who is alone in a scoring area and then get’s all of the shot.

Did the Flames deserve better? Probably. 

There were a few guys that had a good argument for Red Warrior but I got to give it to the Captain, tonight. Giordano had another tremendous performance on the blueline doing a solid job shutting down the Flyers’ high octane scorers and generating opportunities in the offensive zone. He also took a puck in the chops and didn’t miss a shift – although showed his frustration with the play on the bench. What rotten luck to have a few chiclets knocked out right before a two week vacation.

Thank goodness Emery is in the Eastern Conference, I don’t think the Flames could deal with playing against him consistently. Calgary played another classic hardworking, no quit game and it provided for an entertaining afternoon hockey game. Reto Berra was again very good between the pipes, building off of an excellent show on the Island, but I still would’ve liked to have seen Ortio. He’s now the second Finnish top AHL prospect to be called up for a few games without actually playing  – Markus Granlund being the other.

The NHL games for the Flames will now halt for the Olympic Games, which I encourage you all to take in. Canada already with a gold, silver and bronze on the first day of competition (tied for 2nd overall behind Norway)! Calgary resumes their NHL schedule with a date at home against the Kings on January 28th, 7:30 PM puck drop on TSN.