Alls Well in Alberta

As Sportsnet said before the game, Columbus is exactly what the Oilers needed. Hemsky came out of his aimless stupor long enough to score one early in the 2nd, while Lupul finally made an offensive winner a few minutes later. I thought the Oilers basically dominated the game start to finish, even though Leclaire's lackluster goaltending perhaps inflated the difference between the two teams.

I'm wondering if someone can tell me specifically why Tjarnqvist has been benched the last couple games. How does one go from top ice time eater to benched in the span of about a week? Now I haven't been a huge endorser of Tjarnqvist, but I really think the Oilers missed him, especially in Detroit. He tends to make good first passes, and the rest of the Oilers' offensive system flows from that initial pass.

Andy Grabia at BOA was complaining/questioning MacT's insistence on playing Winchester and Petersen on the PP against Detroit late in the game, rather than some of the other higher profile under-producers on the team. Quite frankly I am behind MacT 100% on this issue, for several reasons.

#1 - The number 1 PP unit was simply not getting it done in any way shape or form. Its not like they didn't get a chance- they did on multiple occasions that night. But the PP was terrible, and save Ryan Smyth, none of them looked good or were playing particularly well.

#2- Winchester (and his linemates) was responsible for the Oilers' best scoring chances of the evening. Not just on one shift, but on several. He was one of the few people out there making things happen. Petersen has also looked good. While he his touch around the net has been sub par, he plays his position well and got scoring chances. I don't think its crazy to give the ice time to the hottest hands.

#3 - MacT has always been a firm believer of rewarding players that play well with ice time. But if you only use that tactic as a punishment, it eventually loses its motivational power. There's obviously intrinsic motivation for Winchester to play well all the time, but what would it say about his coach if he plays better than anyone else on the team but there's no reaction by MacTavish? MacT has proven over and over and over again - he does not play favorites.

Anyway, the Columbus win tonight was nice, but the Oilers need to beat a somewhat respectable team. Obviously their recent record does not bode well, but Oil Country patrons need to remember that one of their recent loses was a Magoo-Screw and the other was in a shootout where Sykora hit the post. The Detroit game was pretty distressing, but the guys played the night before and LOOKED very tired. Even finely tuned athletes can get rundown. That wasn’t the only issue, but it was still a big one.



Onto Flamesville - I'm not going to start partying yet, but I almost have this feeling inside like the Dallas game was some sort of turning point. I think a key step to this turnaround was the separation of Regehr and Phanuef. I think oftentimes putting two dominant defenceman together is counterintuitive. Think about it, most of the time Dion is used to doing the job of about 1.5 defencemen. This affects his positioning, pinch-pullback thought process, physical commitment decisions, etc. Regehr has the same issue, generally, high end defenceman partially carry their partners. Now put the two together and they're both overlapping each other's jobs. Its clear Regehr and Phanuef never really gelled at all, and its nice to know now that one of them will be on the ice almost all the time.

Not only have the Flames won the last two games, they did it against good teams, playing solid defensively. I would think these two wins have made a significant difference in the mood of the locker room, and perhaps this will help the Flames get their swagger back.

Can someone explain to me what happened to Amonte over the last 4 days? Did someone put steroids in his soup or something?

Three Stars - Bones Edition

I attended tonight's matchup between the Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars and I must say thats the best game I've seen the Flames play all season. Obviously it wasn't perfect, but there were a lot of positives, including some sustained pressure, chance generation, good defensive play and some innovative playmaking. I've come up with a three star selection from the game.

3rd Star - Andrew Ference
In general I thought Ference put in a solid defensive effort, he made virtually zero defensive mistakes or turnovers. Most of all though, he stood up for himself in the 1st period when he was blatantly checked from behind...again. Where the rest of his teammates were, I don't know (obviously Ritchie wasn't on the ice again) but this time Ference took matters into his own hands and pumelled Barnaby (couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.) One of the longest and free-est swinging fights I've seen all year, Ference gave a huge boost to the crowd and his teammates. Less than a minute later, Calgary scores the opening goal.

2nd Star - Miikka Kiprusoff
Mikka let in one odd angle goal, but otherwise shut the door. He made several brilliant saves, including stopping Brendan Morrow on a cross ice one timer. Kipper also looked good in scramble situations, even with his own teammates falling on and around him. 25 saves in 26 shots, what more can a team ask for?

1st Star - Tony "Bones" Amonte
Far and away the best game Amonte has played in a Calgary uniform. He looked speedy, he looked crafty, he won board battles, he drew penalties, he was in position, he scored two goals and hit one post. There wasn't a shift where Amonte looked less than good, and several where he was spectacular.

Honourable mention goes to Kristian Huselius who put in a nice effort tonight. Skated hard, looked sharp offensively and was responsible in his own end. Could've had 2 goals on the Flames 5-3 PP, he was unable to finish. Although Huselius was benched last game, Playfair showed newfound confidence in Huselius by putting him on the ice in the last minute to protect the lead. Huselius did just that, adding an empty netter to seal the deal.

Finally, I'm a little worried about Tanguay. After making his first his of the season, he grabbed his shoulder, limped off the ice, went straight to the dressing room and never came back.

Mr. Magoo, Where Are You?

I'd like to preface my mini rant by saying the NHL is in general a very well refereed sport . The speed of the game is such that it is very difficult to see everything going on at every given moment, but the referees in the NHL tend to get things right more often than they get things wrong. But in the parts of two games I was able to see tonight, I saw two calls go very wrong.

The first instance relates in my opinion to player safety. While journalists and hockey lovers everywhere have been debating the inclusion/exclusion of fights and headshots, and while Bertuzzi's sucker punch has been pointed to as everything that is wrong with hockey, I'd like to talk about the forgotten (and the far more dangerous) hit from behind. I'm not going to say the rate of hits from behind is steadily increasing, I'm not gonna decry the 'diminishing state of player-player respect,' but what I will do is point out the obvious: hits from behind are not penalized as harshly or as often as they should be.

Case in point tonight; Columbus' Gilbert Brule on Andrew Ference in the second period. Ference has the puck, turns to protect it, Gilbert approaches Ference, sees numbers all the way, and blatantly and intentionally hits Ference into the boards from behind. Byron Ritchie sees this happen, and rushes in to retaliate Brule's actions. As this is happening, Ference gets up, and is instantly met with a crosscheck to the face from Jody Shelly, who then goes after Ritchie. Now I understand why Ritchie was forced to retaliate - you simply do not let the opposition hit your teammate from behind with impudence. I also understand why Shelley was forced to deal with Ritchie, because regardless of who's at fault, you always have to defend your teammate. What I don't understand is how Ritchie and Shelley ended up with penalties, but Brule didn't.

I predict someone is going to get very injured from a similar play, and what will the NHL do? Scapegoat the perpitrator and act as if they had no control in the matter. It's only a matter of time.

Next up is the call thats going to be heard around the leauge for the next few days. Having not seen the rest of the game live, I can't say how well Mick McGeough reffed the game. There was an obvious missed goalie interference call on Dallas' first goal, but in both referees defence, you can't call what you don't see, and maybe they just didn't see it.

Unfortunately, McGeough completely reversed this line of thinking on the Oilers' apparent trying effort with under 10 second to go in the game. He believed that on that fateful draw, in which Horcoff (who won another important draw about 10 seconds earlier) used his glove to pass the puck back to Stoll for the point shot. Viewing the game live, it was apparent this event did not take place. Viewing the replay, its was disasterously obvious this event did not take place. However, from his vantage point, Mick McGeough insisted the event took place. The call was non reversible, non replayable. That play single handidly cost the Oilers at least 1 point in the standings.

17,000 live fans, 23 players, 4 coaches and untold Oilers support staff were incensed, and so they should be. I did however enjoy MacTavish's post game anti-McGeough diatribe in which he described the pure insanity of the call, the spasticity of McGeough's movements upon making the call and basically called out McGeough's reffereeing integrity. I think the fine MacT receives from the League will be well worth it. Some other choice quotes:

"It was a retarded call," Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish snapped. "There is no other explanation for it. I know he is a veteran official and at times I have found his antics humorous. But if this is the product of that there is a problem.

"It was a ridiculous call. I had no idea what he had called. Nobody saw the hand pass on the play because quite clearly there wasn't one. It's beyond reason.

"He should be suspended."

I will also say I am impressed that patrons of Rexall refrained from pelting the ice with debris until after the game was done. Many patrons from arenas across the league would have done it immediately following the blown call (and I don't blame them).

For his part, McGeough is admitting fault.

"It was a blown call on my part," he said after the game. "It was poor judgment on my part. I thought he had his hand on the puck on the face-off but it was his stick. My judgment was poor on the play."

Unfortunately, everyone makes mistakes, even referees. Sometimes its just part of the game. Still, expect Stephen Walkom to make a statement.

In final, I'd like to say that the announcers claimed Hemsky was the one who scored the waved off tying goal. In actuality it was scored by Ryan Smyth on one of the greatest leaping on the ground goals I have ever seen. I would expect nothing less from the man I refer to as Jesus on Skates.

Is There Still A Pulse?

Tonight's Flames game means more to one man than any other on the team - Jim Playfair. I know his ass is on the line, you know his ass is on the line, and you better believe HE knows his ass is on the line. Despite the fact Columbus is desperate for a win as well, anything less than a win for Playfair and the guillotine slides closer to his head.

In my opinion, this road trip will determine his short term fate. Its hard to say exactly where the cut off line is, but zero wins is probably an instant firing upon arriving at Calgary international. 1 win would give Playfair a 3-4 game reprieve, 2 wins might give him until the end of the month, 3-4 wins and he'll be spared until the Flames start tanking again.

Many writers talk about the coach 'losing' the dressing room in situations like this. I don't know about losing the dressing room, but I do know that the post Wings game interviews from both Tanguay and Iginla on Sportsnet exhibited how much the atmosphere has changed in the dressing room. Insiders said it was upbeat but business like last year - this year (after the Wings game) I think one could describe the atmosphere as 'funeralesque.' Iginla and Tanguay looked as if both their mothers had just died, Iginla couldn't look at the camera and was the most downbeat I've ever seen him. You know the interviews players give right after they've lost the Cup in game 7? It was like that.

I don't know if that’s a sign of losing the dressing room, or a sign of being beaten so thoroughly so often. In any event, the only remedy is a few wins, preferably a few close ones so the team remembers how to fight through adversity and win.


Leadership and Consistency


I have to say, despite not playing well in the last week or so, I'm still not overly concerned about the state of affairs in Oil Country. There is obviously a lack of consistency, but there are still flashes of try and I've never felt the Oilers were totally out of any game they've played. I do wonder though how much of the problem is due to the absence of Ethan Moreau. Obviously he doesn’t get a lot of goals or assists but if there's one thing you can say about Moreau it's that he's consistent. And he's a leader. How much of his game/attitude filters through the rest of the team purely because of his presence? Certainly this is a younger team this year, and unlike last year when the Oilers boasted several high profile leaders, this Oilers' edition is scaled down. The leadership load will be more concentrated within Smith, Smyth, Staois, Stoll and Horcoff. Can they handle it? I would think so, but maybe this post Moreau play is the result of an adjustment period.


I'd just like to comment on how pleased I am Toby Petersen made the team. He's clearly a good 4th line fit, he's speedy, he likes to hit, and tends to make solid defensive plays. Who knows, he probably has more scoring touch than Moreau! Anyway, I was a bit surprised he didn't make the team right out of camp, but Thoresen's play has proven MacTavish made the right choice. With Moreau out though, Petersen will get a fair shot, proven by MacTavish's decision to put him on the ice while the Oilers were looking for the tying goal vs. Nashville- even though his errant wrist shot that spiraled out of the zone possibly cost the Oilers the game.

Mind Blowing!

Flames lose again, and are outshot 34-15 in the process. Now I'm really worried...I mean if neither Byron Ritchie nor Brandon Prust can solve all of the Flames woes I don't know what to think!

Lundmark, Ritchie Out

Jamie Lundmark and Byron Ritchie are the odd men out this evening, and there are rumours Jamie (Noodles) McLennan might start. Good thing management has identified the REAL problems within this team. I've always suspected the Flames have been playing terrible because of Lundmark and Ritchie!

Let the Speculation Begin...

The Hammer has fallen. Or will fall. Soon. Maybe. What is certain is that with the call-ups of Brandon Prust and Dustin Boyd from the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, a message was delivered. That message? Get your asses in gear or you will be replaced.

Of course, its possible no one will be replaced anytime soon, or if they are replaced soon they won't necessarily be replaced for an extended period of time - the aforementioned call-ups could end up sitting in the press gallery. But that wouldn’t be very Sutter like. I would suspect they'll get playing time - but at who's expense? Let the speculation begin!

Right now the list of players that are deserving of replacement is longer than the Flames would like, but lets simply narrow it down by assuming they will replace players at like positions. Prust plays left wing, and from top to bottom, Calgary's LWers are; Tanguay, Huselius (LW/RW), Friesen, Amonte(LW/RW), Kobasew (RW/LW).

Even though Tanguay isn't even noticeable on the ice most of the time, he plays a different role than Prust, so he's safe. Huselius at times looks like Calgary's only forward with hands, and he's been playing on Iginla's line (the only productive one) over the last two games. He's safe as well. Apparently Playfair singled out Amonte as having been one of the Flames better players lately (I don't agree, but it’s a plausible explanation of why the Flames are so bad), so he won't be looking over his shoulder. That leaves Kobasew, and Friesen.

Kobasew is really the odd man out on his line. Lombardi has speed, Tanguay has speed, puck handling skills, and a scoring touch, Kobasew has the ability to get hit. Prust on the other hand doesn't take hits. He gives them. While his scouting outlook is not as offensively optimistic as Kobasew's, perhaps his actual offensive output could be. Players like Tanguay have made mediocre players look good before.

Friesen referred to his last season as an embarressment. I hope he's learned to deal with the feeling of being embarressed, because so far he has not exactly shown why last year was the exception and not the rule. I give the guy a little credit, he is playing with Amonte and Yelle, so he probably won't look like an offensive powerhouse even if he was playing well. But that line has very little cohesion and I don't think his play is a symptom as much of a cause. It could be an ace in Friesen's sleeve that Sutter went out of his way to aquire his services-or it could mean that expectations from above are high.

I would say its more likely Friesen will sit, simply because Prust is scouted to be more of a 3rd liner than a 2nd, though I wouldn't mind seeing him create some room out there for Lombardi and Tanguay, both of whom are not known for their physical play.

The most obvious choice of replacement is Darren McCarty simply because McCarty doesn’t seem to be in Playfair's goodbooks judging purely by ice time. However, it would seem strange to me to replace a guy you're not willing to play anyway.

Boyd shares his position with Langkow, Lombardi, Nilson and Lundmark. Technically Ritchie as well, but he's been playing on the wing, and Boyd is more of a natural centre, so Ritchie is off the hook. Despite the fact Langkow looks lost on the first line and is desperately trying to keep up with Iginla and Huselius, I would be very surprised if the Flames called up a player with no pro regular season experience to be their number one centre. Therefore, Langkow is safe. Lombardi has been one of the Flames most consistent players, and still leads the team's +/-. He's safe for sure. This leaves Nilson and Lundmark.

I would also be very surprised if Nilson is replaced by Boyd. Nilson plays a checking role, while Boyd plays an uptempo offensive style. This leads us to Lundmark, who may play on the 4th line, often thinks like a 2nd or 1st line centre. Despite giving a beautiful breakaway pass to Iginla yesterday, Lundmark often makes defensive positioning errors. The question is, will Boyd be an improvement? I don't know how much sense it makes to bring Boyd up only to make him sit on the bench for 50-53 minutes per game.

So will Boyd replace a centre? If he does, I would say Lundmark is the best bet. I believe the second most likely person he will replace is Chuck Kobesew. If he can adapt his positioning his style of play is much more suited to that of Lombardi and Tanguay's. My money will still be on Lundmark however.

The only thing Flames fans needn't speculate is that management is in denial of the problem. Clearly management now believes the staying the course is not enough, and are now willing to implement some personnel changes. The question now is, will it work?