Lots to talk about. Today is news on one award in particular as well as the Flames affiliate and awards voting.
Lindholm Finishes Second
Elias Lindholm finished second in Selke voting this week. Like most awards, it’s more or less a popularity contest with heavy Eastern Conference bias. You get Mason Marchment, a +29, with three votes and Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, +64 and +57, placing below them one vote for each. The system is pretty broken, but it’s nice to see Elias get some recognition. He even received first place nominations from a few media members out east.
Patrice Bergeron won the award for a record fifth time. Hard to deny he deserved all the votes he was given, but one has to wonder why the defensive anchor of the best line in hockey during the 21-22 regular season didn’t get closer to winning it.
Old Friends
Stockton lost 3-2 to the Chicago Wolves last night to go down 2-0 in their best of five Western Conference Final. A few notes on the Heat and their series:
Josh Lievo has been a prominent force in the series so far— two goals and an assist in game one and a goal in game two. The former Flame is once again proving he is too good for the AHL. With any luck he’ll earn himself a regular spot on an NHL squad next season.
Justin Kirkland extended his goal scoring streak to seven games last night.
Eetu Tuulola has a goal in each game this series. There was some doubt about whether the 6’2” 225lb Finn was going to continue his career in North America after 11 games played in the Allsvenskan (Sweden’s equivalent of the AHL) and four games with SaiPa in the Finnish Liiga, but he eventually returned to play 29 games for Stockton last season and 61 games this season. His size and net front game make him more suited to the confines of a smaller ice surface.
There is some latent offensive game with Tuulola that has made brief appearances in three seasons with the Heat. He’s hard to move in front of the net and has a penchant for tip-in goals.
Connor Mackey is a +4 in two games with two assists.
Much like the Flames, the first line has found a rough time to go cold. Zero points among Pelletier-Gawdin-Phillips against the Wolves. One has to wonder if that’s injury, matchups, or size (against a veteran lineup with NHL experience) that has them shut down. That said, secondary scoring has had the Heat losing both games by only one goal. 5-4 in overtime in game one and 3-2 in regulation in game two.
The Heat outshot the Wolves 35-21 in game two and were outshot 28-40 in game one. Game three takes place tomorrow at 6:30 local time. AHL.com has daily passes for $8.99. Hockey if you’re ready for it again.
Sweep
The Edmonton Oilers played their final game of the 21-22 campaign last night in a thrilling 6-5 overtime loss. It was a sweep. Time to relax and enjoy the rest of the playoffs.
It was painfully apparent during their second round series that the quality of hockey was simply not up to par with the other series. The Flames would have likely faced a similar fate given the level they were playing in five games against their northern brethren. Injury reports be damned, the Flames were far too banged up to keep it going. That all starts with goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who was pushing awkwardly off his right leg for the last seven games of the playoffs.
Sean Maloughney and I made a wager after game two; whichever team lost the series has to write a “positivity piece” about the other team. That’s coming up in the next day or so.
Trevor Neufeld
Stats via eliteprospects, dobberhockey, ahl, and nhl.com.
@Trevor_Neufeld 
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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