conundrumed

Roster changes: ARI - Vejmelka gets the start. CAL - Oesterle and Dube in, Kuznetsov and Duehr out. Other: CAL needs a new media team...

Coyotes, Flames take momentum into matchup By Field Level Media January 10, 202410:00 PM ESTUpdated 18 hours ago The Arizona Coyotes found a spark with their comeback victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. Now the Coyotes hope to re-ignite their playoff hopes when they face the Calgary Flames in Tempe, Ariz., on Thursday to end a lengthy homestand. The Coyotes, who lost their grip on a Western Conference wild-card spot with a three-game skid that started as soon as the calendar flipped to 2024, ran an emotional gamut during the 4-3 win over the Atlantic Division-leading Bruins. In a roller-coaster game, the Coyotes fell behind early, erased that deficit, trailed a second time, responded by taking an early third-period lead, watched it disappear and then won in overtime. "I saw our team back," coach Andre Tourigny said. "I saw the energy, the intensity, the no-quit. The care factor was so high. I'm really proud of the boys. Extremely proud." The Coyotes have been one of the league's surprise squads as they head to the midway point of their season, but three losses in which they were outscored 15-4 showed how quickly things can change. A thriller of a victory over a top-tier squad has the potential to do wonders. "We pride ourselves on working hard and being a tough team to play against and give the same effort every night. The last couple of games, we got away from that, and the score was pretty lopsided," said forward Nick Schmaltz, whose overtime winner gave him a goal in three straight games. "We wanted to come out and work hard, because everything cleans up when you work hard." The Flames are also coming off a comeback victory that ended a skid. Calgary ended a two-game slide with a 6-3 win over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. It was their lone home game sandwiched between two road trips to start the calendar year. Thanks to a four-goal third period, the Flames claimed their sixth victory of the season when trailing after two periods. "Husk (coach Ryan Huska) just said, 'Come in at the end of this period with a win.' That was our mentality. We knew what we had to do. We had to force the play," rookie forward Connor Zary said of the message during the second intermission. "We started to do that. We were able to get a couple goals there." The Flames are one point behind the Coyotes in the wild-card mix, and are aware they must make a significant push in the second half of the season. Even though they beat the struggling Senators, who are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, the Flames take pride in finding the necessary gear for a victory amidst a travel-heavy schedule. The game against Arizona will mark their sixth in 10 days in six cities and three time zones. "That was a tough game," Huska said, noting the fatigue factor. "I'm really proud of the way the older guys came to play, and the younger guys followed." Those "older" guys are Blake Coleman and Yegor Sharangovich, who each scored twice, as well as defenseman Noah Hanifin, who scored once in a three-point outing. "We did a good job of handling our emotions," Hanifin said. "Sometimes, coming off a road trip like that out east, coming off a couple of tough losses for us, these can be tough games back home. I thought we had a really mature game out there, and a really good third period." --Field Level Media Go Flames Go!!

Calgary Flames @ Arizona Coyotes Mullett Arena - 7pm MST Watch Live on SN1/Listen Live on FAN960

News! Likely belongs in the Wranglers thread, but... https://calgaryherald.com/sports/hockey/nhl/calgary-flames/calgary-wranglers/oliver-kylington-ready-to-return-to-game-action-with-flames-farm-team

And 4 could easily pass us. We are looking really sketchy to stay this high after trades. She ain't pretty...

Not without a whole bunch of mojo with Sharky and a C.

Hosting the Oilers Wednesday, don't Blockchain this up!! Modest 3 game winning streak, but still haven't really gotten back on track since the injury torments. Just 5-5 in the past 10 including the modest streak. Oilers in on a 7 game heater. The Wings used to not take many penalties. Hopefully the shine comes back, but the D...again. Near the top of the league for O-stats from the D and near the bottom for D stats. I'm sure everyone's aware of how I despise Dmen that hide their Satoshi Nakamoto D play behind O stats. Ghostisbehere, Petry... Just beat the Oilers. Score early, score often, don't sit back at any point in the 3rd, that's when they really push hard. Seider, just do your usual and stare right at 97's chest. I absolutely love Seider for that. They teach Dmen that when they're, like, 6. It seems most have long forgotten about it. LOOK AT THE MAN, NOT THE PUCK. Drives me nuts...don't Blockchaining look down.

That was more in a, "look at the roster stats" sense.lol There is nothing pretty here, just a surprise that we're actually flirting with .500. Will we even have four 20 goal-scorers?

Yes. He was never meant to be on the 4th line. He's playing himself out of the NHL. Pospisil became an instant upgrade over him should speak volumes. Mangiapane away from Backlund and Coleman is like taking his soother away so he sucks at everything else. Remove Zary and Pospisil and that's how we started the year. Dube's been a devastating disappointment and Mangiapane has completely handcuffed our ability to change our lines. So...we acquire Sharangovich because we want to be uptempo...great. All that accomplished was waiting 20 games for him to slow his pace down to fit on this roster. Don't have a PP quarterback, apparently can't watch almost every other team in the league moving the puck quickly on the PP with great effectiveness. In preseason, Sharky was one touch passing everything on the PP. Undoubtedly because that's how NJ does it. Can't do that with Calgary, nobody is capable of that. Don't even get me started on this zone defence that plays too deep, almost zero gap control, and leads to an innate ability to turn pucks over at their own blueline. No one seems to be quite sure who they're supposed to be covering....still.

It is way beyond that. I can't think of a player on this roster >25yo that is irreplaceable. Backlund and Coleman as a 3rd line duo is about it. Maybe Huberdeau because at least he wears his heart on his sleeve. But the UFA guys? Just trade them. They all at least average half-way to being checked out. Their value is likely on the decline. Just get moved them already. We are exactly where we deserve to be, 4th worst in the West. Even that is only by being propped up by Markstrom giving us a chance every game. Yesterday SN carried 2 games, this one and the Wings vs Anaheim. It was like a dream date. The only one I worried about was the Wings trying to continue to get back on track vs a really good goalie in Dostal. A goal with a minute left secured the Wings the W. *Easy to know via our wonderful CDN Leafs-frenzy media that they swept California. Well...the Wings just did the same. The Flames...just feeding my apathy. If Zary/Coleman don't make things happen, I feel like the rest of the team is incapable. Team chock-full of passengers.

The commentary turns to, "well they were a hungry team". lol No. This team can lose to an AHL team on any given night. Just pathetic.

Jeez, let's have a close game vs the Rockford IceHogs.

I would say not even maybe. He really has no value. Pretty much a throw in. The league and the A is littered with 4th liners.

Easy as that all tied up!

Bleh, score 10 more...

Can't possibly lose to this roster, right???

OMG they're playing Rufus, I love that song!!

Hate to pick on a player, but it is one that I over-supported. Dillon Dube is at 19 games without a point. His last point was on Nov. 24th, an assist vs Dallas in our 7-4 win. His last goal was 24 games ago. Nov. 16th in a 5-2 win over Vancouver. He's only -1 in that time, so there is that. Is he worth anything more than league minimum next season, or an easily replaceable 4th line bubble player at this point?

Battered Blackhawks look to cool off Flames By Field Level Media Here come the Chicago Blackhawks -- wobbly and wounded and without their top scorer, but home nonetheless. After enduring a harrowing road trip that saw them lose all five games in addition to multiple players, the Blackhawks are set to return to United Center against the Calgary Flames on Sunday. Rookie forward Connor Bedard headlines the list of inactives. Bedard left midway through the first period of Friday's 4-2 loss at New Jersey after taking a hit from Devils defenseman Brendan Smith. Bedard, the top overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft who leads Chicago with 33 points, skated off while holding his face. On Saturday, the Blackhawks announced Bedard had suffered a fractured jaw and placed him on injured reserve. "It's definitely hard to wrap our heads around," Chicago's Ryan Donato said. "It's so fresh still for us to realize what's going on, but we hope the best for him and hopefully we can keep the guys positive." Teammate Nick Foligno also was placed on injured reserve with a fractured left finger sustained during a second-period fight with Smith. Taylor Raddysh (groin), Tyler Johnson (right foot), and Anthony Beauvillier (left wrist) left games with injuries earlier in the trip. "I think that's the NHL. It's the next-man-up mentality," Chicago defenseman Jarred Tinordi said. "You look around the league, we're not the only team going through it right now. If you look at our roster, it looks like we're going through it maybe a little bit worse than others, but I think we have to step up, myself included." Calgary is aiming to secure a winning record on its four-game trip. The Flames fell to the host Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Saturday afternoon after winning at Minnesota and Nashville by a combined count of 9-4. The Flames got goals from Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar and a 39-save effort from Jakob Markstrom on Saturday. Travis Konecny's short-handed goal in the third period stood up as the game-winner. "The first period was OK, but I thought the second and third, we got outworked," Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. "They were the better team. ... The first period, I thought we got off to a good start, and then the second and third period, Jakob was the reason why this game was close." The Flames have won six of their past nine games after a slow start. Weegar's goal against the Flyers was his ninth, already a career high with more than half the season to play. Calgary hopes to revamp its attack against Chicago after sputtering in Philadelphia. "You've got to leave it behind," Huska said. "I mean, we have another game (Sunday). We want to come home with a really solid road record on this trip, so it's an important game for us. We have to turn our attention to Chicago." Sunday marks the first of three meetings between the Blackhawks and Flames this season. Calgary is set to host Chicago on Jan. 27 before the teams meet again at United Center on March 26. Dancing for Rain: Blackhawks vs. Flames Preview By Second City Hockey Just about everything which could go wrong for the Blackhawks has done just that in the last month or so, with the misery finding another gear on Friday night as Connor Bedard suffered a fractured jaw that sent him to injured reserve and will have him out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, including Sunday afternoon’s game against the Calgary Flames. Chicago enters this game on a five-game losing streak, part of a 13-game stretch in which the Blackhawks have just two victories. With Bedard among the plethora of Chicago forwards on injured reserve, the team added a few warm bodies on Saturday who’ll likely do nothing more than inspire the deep cuts for a round of “Let’s Remember Some Guys” several years down the road. The situation is not as bleak in Calgary, although it’s hard to describe the Flames’ situation as “good,” either. Calgary has 39 points in 39 games, good for sixth place in the Pacific Division and just two points shy of the second wild card spot in the west. Its offense isn’t exactly flourishing, although the Flames do have eight players with at least 20 points already this season, led by Blake Coleman’s 30 points (15 G, 15 A) and Nazem Kadri’s 28 (11 G, 17 A). The primary development there is that Jonathan Huberdeau is down at 11th on the team with just 18 points (6 G, 12 A) in 39 games after cashing in on a 115-point season in 2021-22 to the tune of an 8-year, $84 million contract. But Huberdeau had just 55 points in 79 games last season and is even farther off that pace this season, nowhere near the level of production Calgary was seeking when it traded for and then signed Huberdeau in the summer of 2022. Veteran Jacob Markstrom is the primary option in net, sporting a 10-11-2 record, .908 save percentage and 2.67 goals-against average. Those numbers are fine enough, as backup Daniel Vladar (6-4-2, .888, 3.36) hasn’t grabbed the reins during his third season with Calgary since coming over in a trade out of Boston. With Markstrom playing 24 hours prior, this seems like a start for Vladar. Overall, Calgary seems a bit like a team adrift in the seas of the NHL at the moment: not really bad enough to fall into the lottery and land a franchise-turning draft pick but also likely not good enough to be considered a serious Cup contender. The Flames have won six of their last nine games entering this one — although the most recent outing was a 3-2 loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon — but even that solid stretch has them toiling in mediocrity in the West. Tale of the Tape Blackhawks — Statistic — Flames 43.85% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 50.95% (11th) 41.66% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 50.47% (15th) 2.31 (31st) — Goals per game — 3.03 (t-20th) 3.77 (31st) — Goals against per game — 3.15 (t-18th) 45.0% (32nd) — Faceoffs — 51.0% (11th) 13.0% (29th) — Power play — 12.1% (30th) 74.8% (t-26th) — Penalty kill — 84.7% (5th) Today's edition of, "Songs That You Forgot You Knew"... Go Flames Go!

Comedic Interlude...

Calgary Flames @ Chicago Blackhawks United Center - 1pm MST Watch Live on SN - All Regions; Listen Live on FAN960 Listen Live

I'm interested to see what picks we acquire beyond our 16th.😭 I'm thinking around 10 though. A LOT of teams are better than us. Stats aren't lying. Or prospects/young NHLers of course. It would be nice to add a high IQ player. Jakub Pelletier would be a nice target.🤪 The team is one thing, but losing prime development time with him and Poirier is a whole 'nother great big drag. We'll be needing more than draft picks though. Back to being active in FA no doubt. It would be nice to finally get past 2 years of being the C of Red-headed stepchild. I still can't believe Detroit's 2nd half and march to the Cup this year.

Kadri isn't right. Something's up imho. He isn't moving fast and he's making lazy plays. Either ill or injured. He's looked off all game. He's had 2 solid scoring chances and looked like slo-mo. D clears and that last play he forced, he just doesn't look himself.

Lots of jump to start but melted into really scrambly. Konecny alone has had about 6 high danger chances. I know he's a good player, but you're supposed to defend against the other team's most dangerous player. Everything just looks out of sync and too many lazy turnovers.

I can't see Kylington being back this season myself.