MIXED REVIEWS FOR FLAMES SO FAR
Smith shutout over Preds encouraging sign after No. 1 goalie struggled to start season
In order to keep their personnel focused on the task at hand, NHL coaches break down the season into segments.
And the in-house approach of Bill Peters, in his first campaign as the Calgary Flames head coach, is to split the season into five-game stretches.
“Seven games is too long for the coaches,” Peters said with a chuckle. “The players are good, but the coaches don’t have the attention span.”
It’s a way of containing the 82-game slate and not letting the task at hand (making the playoffs) get too far out of reach or to lose sight during the dog days of the season.
Some coaches approach the NHL season in seven-game segments, which simulates the rigours of a playoff series, but with a five-games-at-a-time approach it’s a little less daunting. It also means there are a total of 16 segments throughout the year with two games left over.
“There are a certain amount of points you want to get in each segment,” Peters said. “If you get the right amount of points in each segment, the next thing you know, you’re in the playoffs.”
So analyzing the first five-game set in the books, there has been some good, some bad and some ugly.
The Flames have seen some goaltending struggles. If you take away Mike Smith’s solid 43-save shutout in Calgary’s 3-0 win over Nashville on Tuesday, the No. 1 netminder’s numbers aren’t flattering in the other three games he has played.
There are things to consider. Like, for example, the Flames faced the Canucks in back-toback games to start the season with some loose defensive play in front of Smith. And the fact that Vancouver rookie Elias Pettersson put on a shooting clinic in both contests — a 5-2 loss to the Canucks on Oct. 3 and a 7-4 win over Vancouver at home on Oct. 6. And the fact that the Flames were basically asleep for most of Thursday’s 5-3 loss at St. Louis.
But allowing 13 goals on 66 shots — the total without factoring in his 43-save effort against the Predators — is scary.
Still, putting together a 3-2-0 record to open the 2018-19 campaign is nothing to complain about.
The Flames lost one of their top defenders in Travis Hamonic, who is out for the next few weeks recovering from surgery that repaired a facial fracture. That has allowed Rasmus Andersson and Juuso Valimaki to blossom and take on some heavy challenges, although there have been growing pains.
Elias Lindholm has been a superb fit for the top line and is tied with Sean Monahan for a team-leading four tallies and six points, while Johnny Gaudreau — the overtime hero in Colorado — has two goals and six assists in five games. James Neal scored his first as a Flame the other night. Matthew Tkachuk is just as snarly and effective as ever. Sam Bennett, with a goal and an assist and a heckuva road performance, looks poised for a bounce-back season.
The Flames’ depth has looked good (at times), but their overall consistency needs work.
Their man advantage has shone (at times), but needs work.
Heading into Monday’s action, no team had received more road power-play opportunities than the Flames (19) and they only managed to score twice. Seven of those misfires, of course, occurred in the team’s season opener at Vancouver. And they were 3-for-6 in their only home game. Before Monday, they were tied for fifth (with six other teams) in the NHL with five power-play goals. The Maple Leafs led the league with eight.
It’s still way too early to determine whether their power play, penalty kill, goaltending, depth or defence is going to get them into the promised land.
But they’ll start with three wins after their first five-game segment, which featured four of five games on the road. Nextup?
Boston (7:30 p.m., Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 960 The Fan) on Wednesday and Nashville (7 p.m., Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 960 The Fan) at home before a two-game road trip against the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens. Their second fivegame segment wraps up with Pittsburgh at the Saddledome on Oct. 25.
“Alittlebitunevenattimes,” Peters said. “To get six points in a segment, we can live with that. But we want to have a process we can count on each and every day. Our starts to games need to be better and we want to be playing with a lead. We’ll work on that as we go forward. Now we go onto segment 2 … so let’s take advantage of being on home ice.”