Monday, October 22, 2007

 

Snaps to Conroy

**Flames' best player tonight, the only forward able to break into San Jose's D in the slightest. In the first period of the first game this season, he looked like he was playing one league over his head (with Iginla & Tanguay), but he's been very solid since then.

**In a strange way, I think the Sharks' dominance tonight might have reinforced my thought that it might be best for the team if Ron Wilson gets canned. They obviously have the defensive habits ingrained (5th in GAA in the NHL last season), and they certainly have the skill. Neither of those things will go anywhere in a hurry if the coach is replaced; what they (might) need is some other marginal advantage that a quality new coach might provide.

Will this actually happen? I doubt it, the Sharks are probably too good to have an extended slump any time in the next 3 months. If it does, and they meet the predictions of a whole lot of hockey writers by making it to the top of the mountain, the new coach will get the majority of the credit for getting them up the final peak. It'll be Wilson who deserves the majority of it for getting them in that position. Sorry Ron, life's a bitch.

**Curtis McElhinney now has a career NHL GAA of 2.54 (1 GA in 23:28) and a career NHL SV% of .500 (1 GA on 2 Shots against). Neither of those averages should probably be pondered too deeply.

**As a point man on the PP, [Dion Phaneuf >>>>> Robyn Regehr]. Check out those PP TOI numbers. Keenan was obviously (a) experimenting a bit and (b) ticked at both Phaneuf and Tanguay re: the shortie against. I haven't watched the highlights, but I'm sure there's plenty of blame to go around for that one. The giveaway by Tanguay was bad, though I'm not sure why he was covering the entire 85 feet of the blueline at the time. Good effort by Phaneuf getting back, although I bet he wishes now that he took one more hard stride after Michalek released the initial shot.

**Moss didn't play tonight. I didn't hear any update as to his condition. From the forums, here's my favorite comment on that post. It's from a Mr. or Miss "oil4life06". No, I don't know if the 06 refers to their birth year or when they became an Oiler fan, and yes, I think the [sic] goes without saying:
First off Moss should learn how to stay on his feet, rather then sell a blind side tap! Raff didnt extend into him with power. Lets be honest here. Keenen is a joke.

**Next up is the Wild on Wednesday, with no local TV as I understand it. Though breaking their scheme down for some better 5v5 scoring chances is a lot easier said than done, killing penalties at better than a 72.5% clip shouldn't be. Go Flames.

Comments:

Is there a formula we can come up with using these handles that will solve a previously unsolved problem?

Something like: oil4life06 + mc79hockey - fever4flames X mclea รท fluxcapacitor222=A Unified Theory of the Universe.
 


The Sharks have revealed the biggest weakness for the Flames this year: strong defensive teams, especially teams that limit scoring chances. The third period was encouraging, (although marred by their 100% shot accuracy). Games against Minnesota and Detroit will show whether we learned anything or not this game.

The Iginla breakaway in the first is an aggravation that won't go away. I had just convinced myself to forget it as bad luck when I read the write up of the game. Did the authour even watch the game? Did it occur to him that maybe the reason the fans were booing was because our best forward had a breakaway taken away for no good reason? I realize it will never happen, but I would like to see refs give a public apology for such horrible blunders like that. The loss of that oppourtunity may have changed the course of the game. Certainly losing Goddard's goal would not have been as frustrating if we already had one on the board.
 

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