Going to say something really controversial here, but I think Dustin Wolf is better than Dusty Nickel.
Who's with me?
that is a bold take
Not sure why the Flames have such a problem with the first half hour of games. They really looked like crap for much of this one before coming on late. Bad passes, poor coverage, maybe 1 or 2 scoring chances generated. Nice comeback tho, got to give em credit they don't die easy.
AwwoooOOOOoo: Wolf first(meaningful) NHL W for the young tender has to feel good. Cpl tips he didn't have much chance on and other than that had everything that was thrown at him without being interfered with. Love his feet and how quickly he's on his angle. Expecting big things from the young man, I think he's really really good.
Good : Coleman had one of his best games in a while. Nice shorty for the GWG but even before that was driving play in the right direction most of the night. Kadri also skated well, had some quality dives, threw some hits. He's not really skilled enough to be a consistent producer in this league anymore but when he's skating he does cause some chaos in the OZ, thought he was our best skater. Solo much better than the Wild game, liked his outlets and had a physical presence. Weegar again a nice job to avoid the Canes forecheck and transition, created a lot of net front chances offensively.
Pretty good : Huberdeau is a much better player when he moves his feet and gets himself physically involved. Zary & Pospisil with lots of hustle plays getting to pucks first and keeping possessions alive. Ras nice net drive goal to start off the comeback and a slippery little pass on the tying G. Also bad flail on the Canes' 2nd goal where he lost it in his feet. Been a little all over the place this season.
Decent : Hanifin & Tanev a better outing, really steady but didn't offer much offensively. Ruzicka give this guy more than 8 minutes please, good things happen more often than not when he's in the center of the ice.
Not bad : Backs was mostly fine, trying to be too cute a cpl shifts. Sharangovich back on the struggle bus, but no real glaring errors either. Nice work on the PK. Mangiapane was.. better? Not by much really but at least he held on to the puck effectively a cpl times. Gilbert was also better than he has been, limited player but the effort is always there.
Not good : Greer couldn't take or make a pass. Dube just seems lost man, believe that was a season low 5:37 TOI for him. Just don't love him on the wing, would rather they make him 4C and get him to simplify. Starting to look like he could use a change of scenery. Lindholm is pissing me off, counted at least 4 or 5 instances where he just bailed on a puck battle. Seems clear he's not getting with the program here, have no idea how he's leading us in scoring honestly because he has sucked for a lot of this season.
Bad : PP is just a sad joke at this point. Should Brent Sutter them and put out 5 dmen next opportunity.