We. Are. Back. The NHL season is firmly underway and your Calgary Flames have done PRECISELY what any level-headed Flames fan could have come to expect. They got our hopes up, they crushed them immediately after, then we had a close one we should have one that we definitely didn’t win. After Week 1, it’s the same old Flames, giving us no reliable information on how we should be feeling, so now we wait and see if things can get a little clearer.
Let’s start on a positive selection of notes. Firstly, for a brief little time we were in a tie for 1st place in the NHL at a 1.000 W% at 1-0-0. Next, the young core have shown flashes of early brilliance. Matthew Coronato has been very visible at the offensive end, despite being a team-worst -6, but I think that two-way prowess is going to come with time. Next, Huberdeau may be all the way back, currently working 4 games worth of a point per game pace. It seems that some of our notable concerns from last season are on their way to being remedied, with Sutter sacrificing youth and skill for brawlers and big-bodies, and Huberdeau having the most down year in the history of down years. We have a Captain, he doesn’t have a point yet, but at least we finally have a guy who can be relied on if things behind those doors get a little dicey again. Truthfully there is a lot of promise in the young season so let’s get into it.
Opening night was magnificent, primarily with the big W at home against Winnipeg. Secondly because the Oilers got the absolute brakes beat off of them the same night. Now we here in Calgary are a level-headed bunch so we definitely, 100% did not make any bold statements or irresponsible assumptions about the season based solely on the events of Oct. 11, 2023. But if you did, the weekend wasn’t fun, watching the Flames get dunked on in Pittsburgh to kick off a long roadtrip. Then, the Flames are gonna Flames, as with a 1-1-0 record, we saw an opportunity for a little bit of drama, kicking off the night in Washington with an early lead, outshooting the Caps 11-0 at the time of the opening goal. Everything was looking like it was coming up Milhouse. Until such a point when the Flames channeled the Ghost of Disappoinments Past and picked up a single point in the shootout loss.
As a sidenote: Anyone complaining about Kuznetzov coming in at 0.6mph on the shootout attempt because of whatever reason people find to bitch about hockey stuff, let me intoduce you to TSN Hockey Personality Craig Button with his thoughts (which are also mine) on players finding creative, innovative, and just generally impressive ways to put the puck in the net.
The Flames were also back in action last night against a struggling Sabres squad, looking for an opportunity to bounce back in the W column, and boy did they have to work for it. Here’s a VERY shortened breakdown of the matchup. Calgary, in classic Flames fashion, shot the lights out. One skill of this team again this year, and in disappointing seasons past, is that they stick top a true addage to the game of “pucks on net”. Can’t score if you don’t shoot. It was the pinnacle of back and forth games, with Calgary taking a one goal lead and seeing it quickly going back to a tie until Adam Ruzicka put the nail in the coffin and sent the boys from one road barn to the next with two big points to leapfrog their way up the early season Pacific Leaderboard and securing Dan Vladar’s first W in his first action of the year.
So what do we take away from this first taste of action? The same thing we should always take away. They play SO many games in a year. This is a teeny-tiny little sample size that should not allow us to be sad, but should also not prompt us to start chirping Oilers fans just yet because everyone knows that’s gonna bite us in the ass sooner rather than later, especially with McDavid doing the nonsense he does as seen below.
Huberdeau looks good, the young kids are gonna sharpen up as time goes on, Markstrom is currently playing serviceable hockey that only stands to get better as we get into the swing of things, and Iggy is still up in the box with Craig, most assuredly crafting some sort of scheme to remedy the injustice of 2004. Stay frosty Flames Nation, see ya soon.
The Morning Skate 