Calgary Flames Daily: Post-game confidence, Kris Versteeg off IR
After a big win over the Edmonton Oilers last night, the Calgary Flames are riding a post-game high right now. And to add on to that, Kris Versteeg has been activated off IR.
After everything going wrong two days ago, everything over the past 20 hours has been going right. Two days ago, the Calgary Flames were worried that they’d be missing a large chunk of their top-six forwards due to injuries. Then yesterday, we found out it was just Matthew Tkachuk. While that’s still an important part of this team, at least it’s not Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund, and Sean Monahan.
Then last night, they finally broke their seven-game losing streak against their provincial nemesis, the Edmonton Oilers. In a 1-0 win, it seems that Jobu is now 2-0-0 so far this season. The Flames also used Jobi in Anaheim earlier this season to help them break the curse of the Honda Centre. And it worked too.
Not only is Jobu 2-0-0, he also has two shutouts.
Related Story: Flames finally win Battle of Alberta
While the Flames didn’t put up a whole lot of goals last night, it was still a big win for the club and sparked lots of confidence.
Via Calgary Sun:
“It’s a big win,” nodded Flames centre Matt Stajan, who helped seal Mike Smith’s shutout with a gutsy shot-block in the final seconds.“There’s no doubt we’re in our own heads here at home. We’re having trouble scoring goals for whatever reason. So to pull out a 1-0 win on home ice against your rival, that’s big. That’s big for us, and that’s something we can build off of.“That’s a playoff-type game, even though they’re a bit behind us (in the standings). We grinded and did the little things and were rewarded with two points.”
To add on to more good news, Kris Versteeg was officially activated off IR this morning. For a couple weeks now, Versteeg was close to returning and many even thought he could make it in the lineup last night. He (obviously) didn’t, but will most likely be in the lineup on Friday evening.
Via Calgary Flames:
“I just want to be able to help the team,” he told Your Flames Authority George Johnson earlier in the week. “I just want to get in the playoffs.”
Versteeg has missed 49 games so far and it may take a couple of games for him to get back to himself. Let’s just hope that him returning with just 11 games left isn’t too late.
Flames Tweet of the day
Hockey Tweet of the day
Some links surrounding the Flames
Flames finally get much-needed win over Oilers (Calgary Sun).
Mike Smith perfect as Calgary Flames blank Edmonton Oilers 1-0 (Global News).
Gaudreau lone scorer as Flames blank Oilers to keep pace in wild card race (CBC Sports).
WELCOME BACK, KRIS! (Calgary Flames).
Some links surrounding hockey and the NHL
Boston Bruins show resilience in come-from-behind win over Hurricanes (FanSided).
NHL’s newest Mr. 600: Counting down Alexander Ovechkin’s top 5 goals (FanSided).
3 things we learned in the NHL: Canes pull a Leafs against Bruins (Sportsnet).
Predators pound Jets to move into tie atop NHL standings (CBC Sports).
Next: Injury updates: Tkachuk out, Versteeg close
That’s all in today’s Flames Daily!