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Playing the Blues Means Tkachuk Rumours — Stomping the Blue Jackets |
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Ah the “all is lost moment”.
Does anyone remember the lows being experienced by the Calgary Flames collective following a 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators at the Scotiabank Saddledome on January 13th?
Since then, the Flames have outscored the opposition 21-7.
Shot totals? 188-104 in favour of the Calgary Flames across four games.
That shot total was certainly helped along by a franchise record setting 62 shot performance last night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
A few thoughts before moving on to St. Louis.
First line rolling
It was another dominant night for the line of Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk. The trio combined for three goals and were 6-1 in high danger chances. As the energy of the Blue Jackets deflated, this line carried the puck with increased impunity shift-by-shift.
That’s about as hot as it gets for a 1st unit in the NHL. Tkachuk has five goals and 13 points in his last five games. Gaudreau, one goal and 12 assists.
Adam Ruzicka
Say what you will about the quality of competition, but the 22 year old Slovak now has a goal and an assist in his last two games bringing him to three points in seven games this season.
Sutter has been using him more in these last two games.
Shift count:
Dec 5: 15
Dec 7: 14
Dec 9: 13
Dec 11: 13
Jan 7: 15
Jan 24: 17
Jan 26: 17
The most time Ruzicka has played in a game this season was 10:53 on January 7 in a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. He averaged 43 seconds a shift in that game and was a -1. Clearly coaching staff told him to reduce that number as he has averaged 33 seconds per shift in his last two outings and has garnered better results.
Painting a picture
Last night 6-0 62 shot drubbing was a low for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Earlier in the month they were victim to a 9-2 beat down by the Panthers where Zach Werenski, after the game, went into how embarrassing it is to have a crowd chant “we want ten”.
It’s been a tough month for them.
What is worse for the fans as well as the organization is that they play the Rangers later today. Godspeed, Blue Jackets.
St. Louis
To Finnish out this mid-week back-to-back is Helinski native Ville Husso and the St. Louis Blues— who are likely seeking a bit of retribution. They’ve had time to get their game into form having not played since the Flames pounded them 7-1 on Monday. There will be no Jordan Binnington and the team confidence issues he comes along with. Nor will the Flames be catching them at the end of a back-to-back like last game.
It’s more likely we see the Blues that won eight of their last ten prior to that game as opposed to the beer league effort they provided on Monday.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman
Lucic-Monahan-Dube
Lewis-Ruzicka-Ritchie
Hanifin-Andersson
Kylington-Tanev
Zadorov-Gudbranson
Markstrom
Matching intensity
Captain Ryan O’Reilly and head coach Craig Berube are both communicating with the media about how unacceptable Monday’s game was— expect a hungry 25-12-5 St. Louis Blues tonight. The Flames have been gifted two easy games. Sometimes swings in intensity can be difficult on winning teams. Tonight will be an interesting test in that regard.
Speculation brewing
Three days ago it was pointed out on here that Tkachuk rumours would start popping up given that the Flames were playing the Blues. St Louis media has a tendency to circle back to the narrative that Tkachuk will end up there because of his dad’s history with the team and the fact that Matthew grew up there.
Hailey Salvian and Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic collaborated to throw gasoline on that fire with an article today speculating on Tkachuk’s future as well as mentioning an interesting rumour. One source of theirs claimed the Rangers inquired last year and were told the price was two first round picks and an established NHL player. They followed that up by saying another source denied that Calgary had set a price.
So prepare to hear about that for a while.
If that rumour were accurate, which it may not be— two (most likely) late firsts doesn’t do a lot for the Flames, so that “established NHL player” better be young, able to produce and on a good contract. It’s hard to imagine a trade like that making the Flames a better team.
Among interested teams listed were the Predators, Rangers, Golden Knights and Stars. That’s about it for the rumours in the article, but there’s some good financial analysis as well, so it’s worth checking out.
The whole situation seems like wishful thinking.
Game time is 6pm MST.
Trevor Neufeld
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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