The Big Monday Thing - In An MMMBop They're Gone
Life sure hasn't been the same since Hanson was in that accident
Johnny Gaudreau was named first star of the week last Monday while I was writing the Big Monday Thing, and due to the pressure of my deadlines, I never mentioned it. Or maybe I did. I’ll look into this and I’ll let you know later.
The Week of: November 22nd-28th
Results From Past Week: After what felt like almost two straight months of playing a game every other night, the Flames finally found themselves with a bit of downtime this week, taking their time to beat Chicago, and got to enjoy three gluttonous and unhealthy days off before the Winnipeg Jets ruined both a Calgary win streak and ‘90s night at the Saddledome. You can’t help but wonder if the Flames are being coddled by avoiding a daily bag skate.
Flames Overall Record: 12-4-5, 29 pts
Standings: 2nd place in the Pacific Division, 2nd place in the Western Conference. There is a little bit of parity in the west right now, not a lot, but enough that if you lose one singular game, you drop out of first place. Could be some fun battles ahead for the remaining 75% of the year.
Soundtrack: Don’t Let Me Down - The Beatles
Yeah, I watched the documentary. It’s honestly not bad, but as a result, this song is forever in my head. I also really like Ringo now? The other three are always fighting and being all creatively frustrated, and Ringo is just cool and above it all. He knows it too. “These dopes,” he thinks, silently, perched above his bandmates at his drum position, a better metaphor I will never see so obviously presented.
I don’t know. The Beatles were dope, don’t let anyone tell you any different.
What We Liked:
We opined last week that supernatural forces were preventing Dillon Dube from depositing even one puck in the back of the net, which is both unfair and illegal, but this time around, it seemed like conditions were ideal for the Cochrane, Alberta kid to put an end to all this sorcery:
Playing against an awful Chicago team
Marc-Andre Fleury in net
Dillon took full advantage of these luxuries, scoring maybe the funniest goal all season:
Not the prettiest goal, but who cares? Dube works really hard and the drought was definitely fueled by a spate of bad luck and also not the greatest offensive threat of a line, but hopefully, the floodgates open up a bit for him now.
Up next: Blake Coleman!
What We Would Prefer Not To See:
The game against Winnipeg on Saturday felt like watching the Flames of old, and let me tell you, upon witnessing it, I do not feel like going back to that era! Come on!
The team was so flat that when Kyle Connor scored late in the first period to cut the Flames lead to 2-1, it still felt like that was game over for Calgary, and it turns out it was.
Outside of earning a quick two-goal lead, the game had all the earmarks of a Geoff Ward era game: a team full of struggling stars looking to come to life, doing exactly that, and putting the foot on the pedal so hard that there was no way the Flames could catch up. Connor Helleybuyck definitely made a couple of ten bell saves to keep the team from shattering that grip Winnipeg had over them, but ultimately the entire experience was far too familiar.
For as good as Calgary has been this year - and they have been - they are relatively untested against the stronger teams in the Western Conference. Something to be wary of. I think they’ll be fine, but sometimes you just don’t know until you know.
Enemy of the Week:
Even though it’s a six degrees of separation thing for the Flames, it’s gotta be Brendan Lemieux, right? Brady Tkachuk became the top babyface of the league this week, which is not something I saw coming.
Everyone hates the MAGA chud best friend of Tony DeAngelo and hellspawn of Claude Lemieux. Story at 11. (ed. note: except for Jonathan Quick apparently, which simultaneously checks out 100% and is also a bit too on the nose)
What Happens Next:
The Flames close out November with a match tonight against the Penguins down yonder at the ol’ Saddledome, before taking off to California to beat that special December deep freeze only Alberta can foist upon you, and also I guess to play games against the Kings, Ducks, and Golden Knights, who for the purpose of this section are based out of the Golden State.
Lots of interesting storylines at play here: If Brendan Lemieux escapes punishment from the league, will there be an altercation with Matthew? The Ducks: kinda good? Can the Flames prove something to themselves by beating them? (that also works for California’s favourite sons, the Golden Knights)
Quiz Re-Visit of The Week:
Back in February, Ramz ran a poll asking one simple, easy to answer question: Are you a Matthew or a Brady?
Many people who answered Brady at the time were, understandably, quite upset, because, well, you know. But after Brady’s big theatre kid weekend, do people feel the same way?
They probably should! Don’t get mad at us when that still happens, chumps, that’s your fault, not ours.
Unrelated Fact:
Today is the day! The long-awaited, hotly anticipated Justin Bieber x Tim Hortons collaboration, TimBiebs has dropped at your local Tim Hortons franchise. I don’t know why I’m telling you, I’m sure you already know and lined up at midnight last night to secure the bag for yourself already. I know I did. It got combative out there.
No word yet when the next big mashup, ScorchBiebs, are coming, but oh whoops, did I just say something I’m not supposed to???
See You Next Week:
Hey, it’s Mike’s birthday today! You better wish him a good one, because I’ll know if you don’t, and I’m going to install a bunch of mobile games on your phone.
Happy birthday Mike. Happy birthday Scorchstack.
(Update: I did not mention the Johnny Gaudreau thing last week)