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Five notes from Calgary vs Detroit:
1) The T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic pairing has had some poor games together this season but last night was a new low. They looked absolutely abysmal from start to finish and were torched by every line – although Detroit's 2nd unit caused the most problems. The speed of the Tomas Tatar - Dylan Larkin - Andreas Athanasiou line forced the Brodie - Hamonic pairing into several terrible turnovers and always had them on their heels. Simply put, the ice was severely tilted in Detroit's favor every time that pairing was out there.
It may be time to try something else because Hamonic hasn't been as good as advertised and Brodie's game seems to have fallen off with him.
2) The defense didn't do the goaltenders any favors, but it was yet another poor showing from those between the pipes. Eddie Lack came into the game with a terrible .857 save percentage, albeit over a small sample, and struggled again allowing five goals on 15 shots. Jon Gillies followed and the results weren't much better as he allowed three goals on 12 shots.
Over the last five games, a banged up Mike Smith, Lack, and Gillies have combined to allow 24 goals and post a .833 save percentage.
It's tough to win without at least average goaltending and, right now, the Flames aren't getting it.
3) I thought Brett Kulak and Michael Stone were terrific. The Flames dominated play territorially to the tune of a plus-12 shot attempt differential and plus-8 chance differential in almost 13 minutes of ice together. The best defense is being on the attack and that was almost always the case when that pairing was out there – Detroit only generated three chances and one shot on goal against them.
4) Mark Jankowski led the Flames in 5v5 scoring chances for the second time in as many games. He didn't get on the scoresheet but he helped generate a lot of good looks, which is encouraging. He definitely looks the part of an NHLer and should be sticking around for the long haul.
5) Micheal Ferland tallied another two points vs Detroit, giving him 10 points in his last 10 games and a ton of chances to go with it. I know he's getting a great opportunity alongside two excellent players in Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, but he's more than doing his part on that line and is looking like a steal at $1.75 million per. The next contract will be much pricier if he can come close to keeping this up.
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