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Five observations from Calgary vs Vegas:
1. The Flames started strong, then faded
Following consecutive losses, in which they were outscored by six on aggregate, the expectation was the Flames would come out strong. They did. Be it neutral zone play, forechecking, chance generation, or suppression, there was a lot to like in the opening frame. Especially at 5v5, where the Flames held a 12-5 chance advantage. Unfortunately, discipline issues – and a questionable video review call, which I'll get to shortly – erased all the positives and more.
Despite a mostly strong period, the Flames headed into the locker room trailing and never regained the offensive spark they had early on. It's not that they were run out of the building. That obviously wasn't the case. But they were a little leakier without the puck, and more out of sync with it.
In a vacuum, there's nothing wrong with losing a close game on the road to a strong Vegas team. That loss hurt, though. Slowly but surely, Calgary's edge in the race for the Pacific Division title is slipping away, and the price they'll pay (seeing Vegas as opposed to, say, Dallas) if that happens is significant.
2. David Rittich bounced back
His play was at or near the top of the list of positives to come from this game. Vegas tested him with 38 shots, including some dangerous ones in quick succession, and he looked really sharp while turning 36 of them aside. The only knock: Rittich, as is often the case with Mike Smith, was a little aggressive coming out to play the puck in one instance and it almost cost the team a goal. When it comes to playing the puck, it's better to do little than try to do too much. We've seen that time and time again with Smith. Tone it down a notch, BSD.
3. Sam Bennett struggled mightily
The 3rd line has been excellent of late. As such, it was the only line Bill Peters didn't shake up prior to the game. Naturally, they were awful. It was an ugly performance from the entire trio – Bennett, Austin Czarnik, and Mark Jankowski finished 16th, 17th, and 18th on the team in Corsi For% – but I thought Bennett was the worst of the bunch. He was perhaps overly confident rushing the puck on a few occasions and consistently skated the puck right into traffic, resulting in some bad turnovers (in particular, a couple to Vegas' best player, Mark Stone, stood out). Those kinds of mistakes will be deadly come playoff time.
4. Video review makes no sense
In sports, plays are supposed to be overturned if there is conclusive evidence the refs made a mistake and blew the initial call. Was a player offside? Did the puck cross the line? Did the football break the plane? Did the baserunner miss the bag? You need clear images, or video, to prove yes, that was the case. If you do have conclusive evidence to say a call was missed, you quickly correct it. It doesn't take long. That's what makes last night's decision to overturn Johnny Gaudreau's goal so puzzling. If it was so obvious Matthew Tkachuk interfered with the goalie's ability to make a save, it should have taken a few looks at most to reach that conclusion. How the refs can gather, watch the same play over and over for five minutes, then overturn a call is beyond me. If it takes five minutes to make a decision, then it's not conclusive and shouldn't be overturned.
5. Matthew Tkachuk stood out
I thought he was really good vs Vegas, and not just because he pissed off half the roster throughout the night. He generated a lot of offense. In 11:28 of 5v5 play, Tkachuk mustered up seven attempts, five shots on goal, four chances, and three high-danger looks. He lived around the net, he played with bite, and he was very noticeable. Tkachuk didn't get rewarded for his efforts but if he continues to play like that, he will be.
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