Dec 5, 2015
Thumbs up to the Flames and Gaudreau
TSN's Dave Hodge gives a thumbs up to the Calgary Flames' version of a Green Bay miracle, to their string of overtime magic, and to Johnny Gaudreau.
By Dave Hodge
It has been hard to find nice things to say about the Calgary Flames this season.
Their power play is the worst in the NHL. Their goals-against average is the worst in the league. A week ago, they were at the very bottom of the standings. But when the third period ends and the score is tied, the Flames, and particularly Johnny Gaudreau, become the NHL's best team.
They are now 6-1 in 3-on-3 overtime after last night's 5-4 thriller over the Boston Bruins. Gaudreau added his own pair of 3s, as his OT winner was his third such goal, topping the league in that individual department and it completed a hat trick. An assist gave him four points on the night and that moved him into a tie for 8th place in league scoring.
The Flames are still closer to the NHL cellar than they are to a playoff spot, but "thumbs up" to their version of a Green Bay miracle, to their string of overtime magic, and to Johnny Gaudreau.
Making Headlines
Assuming we care, even a little bit, let's also assume that all our thumbs are down if John Scott is included with the rest of the NHL all-stars. However, I'm beginning to wonder if the NHL secretly likes the idea, for it does get people talking about the All-Star game a lot more than the four division, 3-on-3 format has done, actually.
The other reason to accuse the NHL of being devious and devilish is that it would have been so obviously easy to keep John Scott out of the Pacific Division lineup as a representative of the Arizona Coyotes. Why didn't the league simply issue an All-Star ballot containing the names of the top 10 players from each of 30 teams and invite fans to pick, from the list of 300, their 44 favourites --11 per division with all teams represented?
John Scott wouldn't be on anyone's list of the NHL's 600 best players, never mind anywhere near the number 300, and anyone else who didn't make the ballot would have no reasonable argument that he should be in the All-Star game. Problem solved, if, indeed, it was seen as a problem that John Scott or some other descendant of the Rory Fitzpatrick phenomenon might make headlines this way.