Flames Take On The Predators And A Rant About #13
As the Nashville Predators head to Calgary to meet for the 50th time overall, I sit and wonder what will happen. Going into this game, the Flames suffered a last second loss to the New York Rangers, when literally less than one second to go, Ryan McDonagh sneaks one past Henrik Karlsson. And with three days off afterwards, it’d be nice to see a win heading into Wednesday’s game against a Division rival. So what does this mean for the Flames?
For starters it means capitalizing on their power plays and offense. The Predators are best known as a defensive based team and the Flames need to put all their effort into getting goals in as quickly as possible. With the Tangs, Moss, and Iggy line up against Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, and Pekka Rinne the world is not safe. It’s like a giant collision of some of the best offensive playing against some of the best defensive pairs out there.
Yeah sure, the New Jersey Devils have made the trap their “thing” but the Predators have this unique way of making a defensively based team entertaining. Getting through the first round of the playoffs last season, the Predators are nothing to mess around with. Why? You don’t win games strictly by defensive skills. They needed to get the puck in the net. Strong defense with the ability to capitalize offensively mean the Flames are going to have tough game ahead of them. Mikka Kiprusoff will not have a relaxing game if the Flames continue playing like they have done the past few games. The last second pull together, like they had against the Edmonton Oilers, will not happen with the Predators. Flames have to come out, get the the defense on their toes early, and get the puck in the net. Because once the Predators get into the groove of playing, Flames are in trouble.
And now for a rant:
It has been pointed out to me by two people, the most productive, most mentioned, most offensively influential player on the team is Olli Jokinen. Now this is a problem. Not because he’s second line out producing those who have made an appearance on the first line. No, it’s a problem because Jokinen is the root of all evil. I don’t understand why the Flames took him back. Two thirds of the way through the 2009-2010 season, the Flames unloaded him. He became someone else’s dead weight.
One season later, FLAMES TAKE HIM BACK! Why? What purpose did this serve? The team had not changed enough to say, “hey maybe Jokinen would fit in now”. This baffles me. Yes, I do miss a lot of the politics no being in the city but really, nothing has changed. And yet, here we are, 6 games into the season and Jokinen has managed to change. With 5 points already racked up, he’s got a chance to really reverse his reputation. I don’t know, maybe you don’t hate him as much as I do, but there is deep burning passion of wanting to scream and yell and throw pucks at his head every time he takes the ice (Yeah I know it’s supposed to be waffles but waffles won’t hurt him, pucks will).