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Robert Munnich

@RingOfFireCGY

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1-0 Flames after the first. Elias Lindholm with the only goal. Pretty sloppy play from both teams. The Hotvat line has been really good.

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3:03 AM · Oct 6, 2019

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Calgary Flames

@NHLFlames

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Johnny to Mony = 🚨 It's science. #VANvsCGY | #Flames

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3:19 AM · Oct 6, 2019

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Game Notes

• If there was one positive takeaway from tonight’s game, it was the performance of Adam Gaudette, who looked eager to prove he belongs in an NHL lineup. Travis Green through the lines in a blender over the latter half of the game, and Gaudette looked alert and engaged regardless of who his linemates were. He even saw a bit of time on the power play.
• Gaudette began the game on a line with Josh Leivo and Jake Virtanen, but the line didn’t see a ton of action. Green quickly began subbing Brandon Sutter out for each of Leivo and Virtanen at times throughout the game, and was Gaudette’s most frequent linemate tonight. In the short term, I don’t mind the idea of Sutter playing the wing with Gaudette, especially as a winger. Gaudette showed some aptitude as a distributor during the preseason, and Sutter’s always had a good shot, so switching him to the wing may keep him from turning the third line into the offensive black hole it’s been for much of the past three years. It insulates Gaudette a bit by giving his line another player who can take faceoffs. I’ll be curious to see if the combo sticks.
• Aside from Gaudette, the Canucks’ forward group did not have a great night. The Horvat line generated a lot of shots once again, but never really looked dangerous, and the Ferland-Pettersson-Boeser line went largely unnoticed. I expect the offense to break out eventually, but the inability of the team’s star forwards to make an impact has been the difference over the team’s first two games.
• I know it’s only been 2 games, but I have officially seen enough of the Canucks’ current power play units. The team generated a lot of shots on the man advantage, but precious few chances, even with a minute-long two-man advantage early in the third period. Josh Leivo was curiously out on the ice for the opportunity, and as much as I think he’s one of the Canucks’ better bottom-six wingers, it’s hard to come up with a reason why you’d want him out there on the first unit, much less for a 5-on-3. The urge to balance scoring across both units is understandable, but after their first two showings this season it seems like focusing on getting one of the units going first would be more advisable. That means putting Hughes on the first unit. There have been some bumps in the road for him defensively over the team’s first two games, but he’s already proven he’s their most dynamic offensive option on the back end. He played over 21 minutes tonight, so there’s no reason some of that time couldn’t be spent with Boeser and Pettersson on the man advantage.
• For a roster that underwent a myriad of changes this offseason, the Canucks’ looked shockingly similar to last year’s team tonight. Through the first two periods, they were dull, slow, and listless, looking like a team that was playing their third game in four nights in the middle of a long season. Even the team’s new additions-outside of Miller and Pearson- looked like deluxe versions of the players that caused the team so many headaches last season. Micheal Ferland looked every bit as anonymous as the revolving door of wingers the first line saw last year, and the Tyler Myers giveaway that led to the opening goal was straight out of the Gudbranson/Pouliot playbook.
• The Canucks somehow managed to take three (3) too many men penalties????
• Jacob Markstrom was excellent once again, stopping 32 of 34 shots, and had no chance on either of the Flames’ goals. If not for him, the final score could have much worse.
• Since the Canucks got shut out tonight and struggled mightily to produce offense, it seems like a good time for a friendly reminder that it’s only been five days since Jim Benning implied the front office and coaching staff were confident with the level of skill on the roster.