Week In Review – Flames Win Another 2 Of 3 To End Preseason

The Calgary Flames walked away from the preseason with another 2-1 record in their last match-ups. With a win against the Colorado Avalanche, another win against the Winnipeg Jets at the Saddledome, and a loss on the road in Winnipeg, the Flames concluded their preseason and have made a lot of cuts from training camp. The most recent cuts have included Michael Ferland and Pat Sieloff, who were sent to the AHL Adirondack Flames while Morgan Klimchuk was sent back to the WHL Regina Pats. Luckily, for me, I’ll be able to watch Klimchuk again this season even though I’m a little disappointed – yet not surprised – that he didn’t make the Flames roster this year.

This week started off when the Flames hosted the Colorado Avalanche. Jonas Hiller got the start in net. As always, Johnny Gaudreau played hard and, at this point, I think we all expect it out of him. Along with Sean Monahan, this duo was on point with their creation of chances throughout the game. These two alone make the Flames future look bright. Midway through the second period, it all paid off as Johnny Hockey netted the first goal for the Flames. But he didn’t stop there, he kept pushing, Boston College style, and took more shots on net throughout the game. Try as he might, Mony just couldn’t seem to pot a goal, and his frustration was starting to show, yet he took control and shook it off quickly. He didn’t miss a beat and got his head back in the game. Jonas Hiller stood tall in net and looked very comfortable defending his new team, while Mark Giordano continued down the path of captaincy with dignity and respect. Lance Bouma got the empty-net goal and the Flames stole the show with a 2-0 shutout.

My 1 Star
Josh Jooris. He was always a part of the important plays and held a good position on the ice all night long. His skating skills were put on display as the Avs put sporadic pressure on the Flames all night long. He’s got a good future in the world of hockey, but I’m not sure he’s quite ready for the NHL. I think he’ll benefit from playing in the AHL at this point.

Special mention – Lance Bouma. With the second goal of the night, great forechecking, and his hard-hitting, forceful play, Bouma was a powerful part of the Flames defense this game with his shot-blocking prowess.

On October 2nd, the Flames hosted the Winnipeg Jets in a home and home series to end the preseason with Karri Ramo in net the first night at the Saddledome. Monahan and Gaudreau were a powerful duo again. Patience paid off as Mony potted his first goal of the preseason in the second period to put the Flames on the board halfway through the game. But, just before the end of the second, Mark Sheifele tied the game to start the third period. And then it really hit the fan in the last frame as the reffing was astoundingly one-sided and met with a lot of criticism from the hometown crowd. Sean Monahan and Josh Jooris answered back as Monahan tallied his second of the night and Jooris scored twice in the third to leave a bad taste in the mouths of the Jets with a final score of 4-2 in spite of the horrendous calls.

My 1 Star
Sean Monahan. He could have let the frustration of such a one-sided game get the best of him, especially since the last game when he couldn’t seem to get the puck in the net in spite of many chances, but instead he focused that aggravation on the game at hand. With two goals against the Jets and an ambition that just gets bigger and better (along with his physicality), Monahan is just what the future of the Flames organization needs.

After the Flames sent Michael Ferland and Pat Sieloff down to the AHL Adirondack Flames and Morgan Klimchuk was sent back to the WHL Regina Pats, the Flames faced the Jets again in Winnipeg. David Jones opened the scoring with a beauty wrap-around goal on the Jets, but Paul Postma answered back with a goal for Winnipeg to tie the score going into the second. With another goal for the Jets in the middle frame, the Flames had their work cut out for them in the third since Winnipeg had dominated the first two periods. The third period got ugly as Matt Stajan took a rough hit that he wasn’t happy with and then Mikael Backlund shoved Tobias Enstrom into the end boards. Things really got bad when the Jets began to retaliate against Backlund by shoving him around the ice after Enstrom left the game. The Jets took the win 4-1 and left the Flames to wallow in a sub-par game.

My 1 Star
David Jones. I’m giving Jones my 1 Star because he got the only goal of the game for Calgary and because he was the only one with any heart in the game that night. Heart, effort, and a je ne sais quoi were missing during the last preseason game in Winnipeg and I hope the Flames can shake it off quickly.

The preseason has officially ended and the regular season starts this week, on Wednesday October 8th as the Flames host the Vancouver Canucks. Yep, this western battle is still on and the season will definitely start out with a bang if this match-up is anything like last year. As well, the Flames will travel to Edmonton to take on the Oilers and St. Louis to take on the Blues before the week is over. And I’ll be back next week to review every game.

One last note of interest…
On Sunday, the Flames announced that Sven Baertschi, Josh Jooris, and Joni Ortio had been sent down to Adirondack to play with the AHL Flames.

Go Flames Go!